Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) Increases Dividend to $0.35 Per Share

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) announced a quarterly dividend on Sunday, October 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, November 16th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 2nd. This is a 16.7% increase from Ally Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30.

Ally Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1% annually over the last three years. Ally Financial has a payout ratio of 22.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Ally Financial to earn $6.07 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.8%.

Ally Financial Price Performance

Shares of ALLY stock opened at $37.39 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.69. Ally Financial has a one year low of $35.92 and a one year high of $47.29. The firm has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 16.75%. The firm had revenue of $2.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Ally Financial will post 5.00 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Stephanie Richard sold 5,000 shares of Ally Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.23, for a total value of $221,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 88,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,933,241.21. The trade was a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ally Financial

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ally Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,315,659,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in Ally Financial in the second quarter worth $1,240,650,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Ally Financial by 3.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,018,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $353,776,000 after purchasing an additional 309,638 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Ally Financial by 11.7% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,783,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $266,134,000 after purchasing an additional 712,443 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ally Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $172,509,000. Institutional investors own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

About Ally Financial

Ally Financial Inc is a digital financial services company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ALLY. The company primarily serves consumers, automotive dealers and businesses in the United States through online and branchless banking and financing platforms.

Ally’s automotive finance business provides retail installment loans and leases to consumers and floorplan financing and other services to automotive dealers. Its consumer banking operations, conducted through Ally Bank, offer deposit products such as savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, along with consumer lending products.

The company also provides credit cards and commercial financing, and offers investment and brokerage services through Ally Invest.