Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on ALLY. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Ally Financial in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Ally Financial from $43.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ally Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.69.

Ally Financial Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE ALLY opened at $33.63 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.96. The company has a market cap of $10.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Ally Financial has a 12-month low of $29.52 and a 12-month high of $45.46.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. Ally Financial had a net margin of 11.29% and a return on equity of 9.31%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ally Financial will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.24%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Stephanie N. Richard sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total transaction of $257,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 90,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,905,038.18. This represents a 8.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Russell E. Hutchinson bought 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.81 per share, with a total value of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 236,421 shares in the company, valued at $7,284,131.01. This represents a 3.59% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ally Financial

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Ally Financial by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,252,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,017,360,000 after purchasing an additional 111,231 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Ally Financial by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,797,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $320,855,000 after purchasing an additional 134,113 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Ally Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $253,881,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ally Financial by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,895,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $175,990,000 after acquiring an additional 184,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Ally Financial by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 4,658,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $169,909,000 after acquiring an additional 456,698 shares during the last quarter. 88.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ally Financial Company Profile

Ally Financial Inc, a digital financial-services company, provides various digital financial products and services in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda. The company operates through Automotive Finance Operations, Insurance Operations, Mortgage Finance Operations, and Corporate Finance Operations segments.