Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE:HMC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE:HMC) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut Honda Motor from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Honda Motor in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Nomura upgraded shares of Honda Motor to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Honda Motor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Honda Motor in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Honda Motor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HMC. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Honda Motor by 2.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,572,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,633,000 after buying an additional 205,016 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Honda Motor by 5,004.4% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 8,583,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,303,000 after buying an additional 8,414,952 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Honda Motor in the third quarter valued at approximately $136,637,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Honda Motor by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,200,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,245 shares during the period. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Honda Motor by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,648,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,087,000 after acquiring an additional 590,128 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 5.32% of the company’s stock.

Honda Motor Price Performance

NYSE:HMC opened at $24.35 on Friday. Honda Motor has a 52-week low of $24.08 and a 52-week high of $34.89. The company has a market cap of $38.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.70 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.18.

Honda Motor (NYSE:HMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $29.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.34 billion. Honda Motor had a return on equity of 4.01% and a net margin of 2.34%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Honda Motor will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Honda Motor

Honda Motor Co, Ltd. is a global manufacturer and mobility company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1948 by Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa. The company’s core businesses include the design, manufacture and sale of automobiles and motorcycles, along with a diverse portfolio of power products, engines and related components. Honda also operates in aviation through Honda Aircraft Company and offers financial services that support vehicle sales and leasing.

In automobiles, Honda is known for a range of passenger cars, crossovers and light trucks, and in motorcycles it is one of the world’s leading producers by volume and model breadth.