Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) Shares Bought by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) by 285.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,490 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ally Financial were worth $2,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in Ally Financial by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,704,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $380,981,000 after purchasing an additional 51,426 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Ally Financial by 233.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,430,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701,264 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ally Financial by 217.0% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,283,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,260,000 after buying an additional 1,563,008 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Ally Financial by 19.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,106,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,974,000 after acquiring an additional 344,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in Ally Financial by 81.0% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,156,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,165,000 after purchasing an additional 517,388 shares in 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 a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ally Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Ally Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wolfe Research downgraded Ally Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $44.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.76.

Insider Transactions at Ally Financial

In related news, CEO Michael George Rhodes bought 25,634 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $39.09 per share, for a total transaction of $1,002,033.06. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Russell E. Hutchinson purchased 19,100 shares of Ally Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $39.45 per share, with a total value of $753,495.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 202,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,002,235.25. This trade represents a 10.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Ally Financial Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE ALLY opened at $36.50 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.40. Ally Financial Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.95 and a fifty-two 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.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.21. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 11.29%. The business had revenue of $2.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Ally Financial Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Ally Financial’s payout ratio is presently 46.15%.

Ally Financial 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.