Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Ally Financial Call Options (NYSE:ALLY)

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 31,808 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 706% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,948 call options.

Insider Transactions at Ally Financial

In related news, insider Stephanie N. Richard sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.14, for a total value of $210,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 93,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,958,083.78. This represents a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Douglas R. Timmerman sold 39,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.17, for a total value of $1,792,119.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 477,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,574,411.59. The trade was a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ally Financial

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Ally Financial by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,271,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,347,000 after acquiring an additional 2,332,610 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Ally Financial by 3.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,018,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $353,776,000 after buying an additional 309,638 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Ally Financial by 11.7% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,783,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $266,134,000 after buying an additional 712,443 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ally Financial by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,381,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,795,000 after buying an additional 241,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Ally Financial by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,867,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $175,137,000 after buying an additional 20,198 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALLY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $54.00 price objective on shares of Ally Financial in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings cut Ally Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $54.00 price target on Ally Financial in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.14.

Ally Financial Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of ALLY stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $45.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,121,294 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,638,167. Ally Financial has a 1-year low of $35.92 and a 1-year high of $47.27. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.34. The company has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.18. Ally Financial had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 36.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ally Financial will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 1st were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. Ally Financial’s payout ratio is presently 29.27%.

About Ally Financial

Ally Financial Inc is a leading digital financial services company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. The company offers a comprehensive suite of banking, lending, and insurance products designed for retail and commercial customers. Through its online-only platform, Ally Bank provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, money market accounts, and home mortgages, emphasizing competitive rates and user-friendly mobile and web experiences.

In addition to its banking operations, Ally Financial is a major player in automotive financing and leasing.