Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) Short Interest Up 40.2% in March

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,510,000 shares, an increase of 40.2% from the February 28th total of 8,210,000 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,730,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ally Financial from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Ally Financial from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $36.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Ally Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Michael George Rhodes bought 25,634 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $39.09 per share, for a total transaction of $1,002,033.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 25,634 shares in the company, valued at $1,002,033.06. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Russell E. Hutchinson purchased 19,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $39.45 per share, with a total value of $753,495.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 202,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,002,235.25. This represents a 10.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALLY. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ally Financial by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,252,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,017,360,000 after buying an additional 111,231 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,704,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $380,981,000 after purchasing an additional 51,426 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ally Financial by 3.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 4,226,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $153,752,000 after purchasing an additional 192,295 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ally Financial by 84.0% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 4,202,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $151,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,918,965 shares in the last quarter. 88.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ally Financial Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of Ally Financial stock traded down $0.94 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $36.51. The stock had a trading volume of 5,317,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,404,773. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.40. Ally Financial has a 1 year low of $31.95 and a 1 year high of $45.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.38.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.21. Ally Financial had a net margin of 11.29% and a return on equity of 9.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. Ally Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ally Financial will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.15%.

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.