Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $36.27, but opened at $37.49. Ally Financial shares last traded at $38.97, with a volume of 1,024,861 shares.

The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.12. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 12.42%. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 earnings per share. Ally Financial’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ALLY shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Ally Financial from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. TheStreet upgraded Ally Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ally Financial in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Raymond James cut Ally Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ally Financial from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.47.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ally Financial by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,009,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $747,293,000 after buying an additional 290,842 shares during the last quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. lifted its holdings in Ally Financial by 426.5% during the 1st quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 9,493,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $241,979,000 after purchasing an additional 7,689,915 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Ally Financial by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,749,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $380,424,000 after purchasing an additional 281,795 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Ally Financial by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,343,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $212,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ally Financial by 195.1% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,058,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $148,137,000 after purchasing an additional 4,005,417 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

Ally Financial Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $37.71 and a 200-day moving average of $32.92. The firm has a market cap of $11.88 billion, a PE ratio of 13.07, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54.

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.