Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during 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 company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,570,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ally Financial

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on ALLY shares. Citigroup started coverage on Ally Financial in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Ally Financial from $49.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ally Financial from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $39.00 to $45.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Ally Financial from $50.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $44.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ally Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.38.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

Shares of ALLY stock traded down $0.70 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $34.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,271,810 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,467,676. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $10.61 billion, a PE ratio of 14.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $39.55 and a 200-day moving average of $39.53. Ally Financial has a 52 week low of $22.54 and a 52 week high of $45.46.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last announced its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 8.37% and a net margin of 10.26%. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ally Financial will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. Ally Financial’s payout ratio is 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.