Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. BTIG Research lowered Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Ally Financial in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ally Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.69.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

NYSE ALLY opened at $34.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $33.74 and a 200 day moving average of $35.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Ally Financial has a twelve month low of $29.52 and a twelve month high of $45.46.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 11.29%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ally Financial will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Ally Financial’s payout ratio is presently 88.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ally Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALLY. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ally Financial by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,252,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,017,360,000 after acquiring an additional 111,231 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 184,278 shares during the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its position in shares of Ally Financial by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 4,226,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $153,752,000 after purchasing an additional 192,295 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 84.0% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 4,202,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,918,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Ally Financial by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,941,459 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,932,000 after buying an additional 863,052 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

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.