Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) has been halted for NEWS PENDING with a last trading price of $10.73. The move was already on the heels of a 3.16% drop today and we had been hearing rumors that 65-year old CEO Alan R. Mulally would be leaving the company in the coming year or so.  The news is that Ford is reinstating a dividend on its common stock. 

Ford’s last common stock dividend was $0.05 and the ex=date was in the summer of 2006.  The quarterly payout will be reinstated $0.05 per share per quarter.  Keep in mind that the prior dividend before it was cut in 2006 was $0.10 per share per quarter and that was down significantly from levels back in 2001.

At $10.37, this payout will generate a dividend yield of close to 2%. The dividend will be payable on March 1, 2012 to shareholders of record of Class B and common stock on January 31, 2012.

The chatter had been that Ford was searching for a replacement CEO.  This would be no easy task. Mulally helped the company bolster its books before the recession went into overdrive and Mulally helped the company stay out of the government bailout money trap that General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) and Chrysler fell into.

Frankly, we would expect that a replacement search will be announced soon anyhow.  The fact that this dividend reinstatement press release does not have Alan Mulally’s name on it may be a “tell” that investors should read into.  The press release only has quotes from Bill Ford, executive chairman, and from Lewis Booth, Ford executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Here is a list of DJIA components we expect to raise their common stock dividends in the very near future.

JON C. OGG

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