The 2015 Ford Flex SUV and F-Series pickup are promising entries in wildly profitable segments. Flex gives the German automakers some competition.
Ford Motor Company declared a fourth quarter dividend of $0.125 per share on the company’s outstanding Class B, which the family controls and live off of, and common stock. This is the same dividend paid in the first three quarters of 2014, which is a 25% increase the dividend paid in each quarter of 2013.
Ford stock has been slumping recently after Ford removed $1 billion from its annual profit guidance and analysts balked. Selling in the $14 per share range, this translates to a ~3.4% dividend from Ford. Morgan Stanley now lists Ford as an Underweight rating from an overweight position. The investment banking firm sets a $16 price target on shares of the automaker.
In a classic management screw up under newly minted CEO Mark Fields, Ford took $2 billion out of its profit forecast. Ford had said that a $7 to $8 billion profit would appear for 2014, but now says it will be more like $6 billion. Approximately $1 billion will be lost because of recalls, another $900 million due to the South American implosion. GDP growth there has slowed significantly and another recession appears certain.
The fourth quarter dividend is payable on 1 December 2014 to shareholders of record on 31 October 2014.
