Ally Financial Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:ALLY)

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 15,118 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 200% compared to the average daily volume of 5,031 call options.

Institutional Trading of Ally Financial

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Ally Financial by 245.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 608,179 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $24,687,000 after acquiring an additional 432,350 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in shares of Ally Financial by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,662,075 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $58,040,000 after buying an additional 261,897 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its stake in Ally Financial by 3.8% during the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 880,601 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $34,933,000 after buying an additional 32,478 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in Ally Financial by 15.5% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 369,491 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $14,988,000 after buying an additional 49,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its stake in Ally Financial by 309.5% in the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 99,315 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,031,000 after acquiring an additional 75,063 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on ALLY. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ally Financial from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Ally Financial from $50.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Ally Financial from $49.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Ally Financial from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $41.41.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALLY traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $33.77. 5,275,486 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,451,693. The company's 50 day moving average price is $41.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.72. The firm has a market cap of $10.27 billion, a PE ratio of 13.49, a PEG ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.40. Ally Financial has a 52 week low of $22.54 and a 52 week high of $45.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.03 billion. Ally Financial had a net margin of 10.26% and a return on equity of 8.37%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ally Financial will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. Ally Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.