Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) by 10.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 911,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 110,806 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Ally Financial were worth $36,163,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Ally Financial during the first quarter valued at about $152,079,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Ally Financial by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,697,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $146,670,000 after acquiring an additional 31,491 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its position in Ally Financial by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,774,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $112,616,000 after acquiring an additional 21,657 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Ally Financial by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,346,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,953,000 after purchasing an additional 42,556 shares during the period. Finally, Scout Investments Inc. bought a new stake in Ally Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,080,000. 88.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ALLY. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. BTIG Research started coverage on Ally Financial in a report on Friday, June 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $51.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Ally Financial from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ally Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.41.

Ally Financial Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Ally Financial stock opened at $43.19 on Friday. Ally Financial Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.54 and a 1 year high of $45.46. The firm has a market cap of $13.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.63, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.72 and a 200 day moving average of $39.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.33. Ally Financial had a net margin of 10.26% and a return on equity of 8.37%. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ally Financial Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. Ally Financial’s payout ratio is 48.98%.

Ally Financial 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.