Franklin Resources Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 519,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,485 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Ally Financial were worth $18,711,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALLY. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Ally Financial by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,252,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,017,360,000 after purchasing an additional 111,231 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ally Financial by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,704,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $380,981,000 after buying an additional 51,426 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Ally Financial by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 2,956,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $106,455,000 after buying an additional 1,272,853 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Ally Financial by 233.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,430,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,509,000 after buying an additional 1,701,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Ally Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $75,483,000. Institutional investors own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ALLY. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Ally Financial from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Compass Point upgraded Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Monday. Bank of America cut their price objective on Ally Financial from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ally Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.82.

Ally Financial Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE ALLY opened at $31.34 on Tuesday. Ally Financial Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.06 and a 1-year high of $45.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The business’s 50 day moving average is $36.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.05, a PEG ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ally Financial news, CEO Michael George Rhodes purchased 25,634 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $39.09 per share, with a total value of $1,002,033.06. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 25,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,002,033.06. The trade was a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Russell E. Hutchinson acquired 19,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $39.45 per share, for a total transaction of $753,495.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 202,845 shares in the company, valued at $8,002,235.25. The trade was 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 corporate insiders.

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.