First Trust Advisors LP Lowers Stock Holdings in Ally Financial Inc. $ALLY

First Trust Advisors LP cut its holdings in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) by 30.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 876,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 384,851 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.28% of Ally Financial worth $34,159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Ally Financial in the first quarter valued at $25,000. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Ally Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Ally Financial by 385.2% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 597 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 662.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ally Financial by 116.8% during the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ally Financial news, insider Kathleen L. Patterson sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.86, for a total value of $1,184,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 100,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,094,294.58. This represents a 22.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $56.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Cowen upgraded Ally Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on Ally Financial from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ally Financial from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.67.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

Ally Financial stock opened at $42.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.04 billion, a PE ratio of 25.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.22. Ally Financial Inc. has a one year low of $29.52 and a one year high of $44.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $39.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Ally Financial had a net margin of 8.10% and a return on equity of 9.96%. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ally Financial Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Ally Financial’s payout ratio is 72.29%.

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.