Stock Repurchase Program Approved by Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY)

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 10th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 15.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ALLY shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ally Financial from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. TD Cowen upgraded Ally Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ally Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ally Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $56.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ally Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.67.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

Shares of ALLY opened at $44.48 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.70 billion, a PE ratio of 26.80, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.41. Ally Financial has a 52 week low of $29.52 and a 52 week high of $45.09.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last issued its earnings results 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 during the quarter. Research analysts expect that Ally Financial will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ally Financial

In other news, insider Kathleen L. Patterson sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider owned 100,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,094,294.58. This trade represents a 22.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

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.