Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,400,000 shares, a decrease of 6.4% from the August 31st total of 8,970,000 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,570,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALLY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays cut their price objective on Ally Financial from $44.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $49.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $45.00 to $37.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ally Financial from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.38.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ally Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $702,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ally Financial in the second quarter valued at $233,000. Quarry LP increased its position in Ally Financial by 311.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Ally Financial by 2.7% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 60,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,409,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ally Financial by 597.3% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 131,183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,204,000 after purchasing an additional 112,369 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:ALLY opened at $34.97 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 1.40. Ally Financial has a 12-month low of $22.54 and a 12-month high of $45.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.33. Ally Financial had a net margin of 10.26% and a return on equity of 8.37%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ally Financial will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.98%.

About Ally Financial

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.