Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

ALLY has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Ally Financial in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Compass Point boosted their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ally Financial presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $37.59.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

Ally Financial stock opened at $36.27 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.78. The company has a market cap of $11.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Ally Financial has a fifty-two week low of $22.54 and a fifty-two week high of $41.56.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.99 billion. Ally Financial had a net margin of 12.42% and a return on equity of 9.41%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ally Financial will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.13%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ally Financial

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 34.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,122,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,309,000 after buying an additional 795,754 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 9.4% in the third quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 819,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,855,000 after buying an additional 70,615 shares during the period. ING Groep NV bought a new stake in shares of Ally Financial in the third quarter valued at about $4,336,000. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ally Financial in the third quarter valued at about $724,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Ally Financial by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 23,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755 shares during the period. 88.76% of the stock is currently 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.