Towle & Co. Has $11.79 Million Stock Holdings in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)

Towle & Co. decreased its stake in shares of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) by 21.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 327,438 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 90,363 shares during the period. Ally Financial makes up 2.0% of Towle & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Towle & Co.’s holdings in Ally Financial were worth $11,791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ALLY. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in Ally Financial by 89.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Ally Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Ally Financial by 218.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Ally Financial by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Ally Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $78,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Russell E. Hutchinson purchased 8,200 shares of Ally Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $30.81 per share, with a total value of $252,642.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 236,421 shares in the company, valued at $7,284,131.01. The trade was a 3.59% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephanie N. Richard sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total value of $257,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 90,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,905,038.18. This trade represents a 8.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Ally Financial Price Performance

Shares of ALLY opened at $36.03 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.98. Ally Financial Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.52 and a 52-week high of $45.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.14.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.15. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 11.29%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict 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 Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 1st. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on ALLY. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Ally Financial from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Ally Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Ally Financial from $45.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. For consumer lenders, the Trump Administration’s hardline approach to tariffs is “difficult to ignore” and there’s clearly more downside to the group if tariffs remain near current levels. If tariffs remain in place, risks to growth would skew meaningfully to the downside and risks to inflation to the upside, adds the analyst, who is downgrading the firm’s Consumer Finance industry view to Cautious from Attractive. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Ally Financial from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ally Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ally Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.69.

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.