Short Interest in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) Increases By 40.2%

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,510,000 shares, a growth of 40.2% from the February 28th total of 8,210,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,730,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days. Approximately 3.8% of the company's shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ALLY. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Ally Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial upped their price target on Ally Financial from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Ally Financial from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $36.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $42.65.

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Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael George Rhodes bought 25,634 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $39.09 per share, with a total value of $1,002,033.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,634 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,002,033.06. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Russell E. Hutchinson purchased 19,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $39.45 per share, for a total transaction of $753,495.00. Following the acquisition, 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ally Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Ally Financial by 50.8% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 16,001 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 5,387 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Ally Financial by 22.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 242,602 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $8,634,000 after buying an additional 44,314 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Ally Financial by 8.4% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 16,488 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $587,000 after buying an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Ally Financial by 10.0% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 20,909 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $744,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Ally Financial by 59.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 84,139 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,942,000 after acquiring an additional 31,395 shares during the last quarter. 88.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:ALLY traded down $4.00 on Thursday, reaching $33.03. 7,592,112 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,428,207. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.41. Ally Financial has a 52 week low of $31.95 and a 52 week 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 firm has a market cap of $10.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.12.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ally Financial will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Ally Financial's payout ratio is presently 46.15%.

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.