Sciencast Management LP Buys Shares of 15,254 Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)

Sciencast Management LP bought a new stake in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 15,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $549,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 496 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ally Financial during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of 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 period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Ally Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $63,000. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 period. 88.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ALLY shares. Wolfe Research cut Ally Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ally Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Ally Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Ally Financial from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Ally Financial from $36.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.76.

Ally Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALLY opened at $36.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. Ally Financial Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.95 and a fifty-two week high of $45.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.40.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ally Financial Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Ally Financial

In other news, CEO Michael George Rhodes purchased 25,634 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $39.09 per share, for a total transaction of $1,002,033.06. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,002,033.06. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Russell E. Hutchinson purchased 19,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $39.45 per share, for a total transaction of $753,495.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 202,845 shares in the company, valued at $8,002,235.25. The trade was a 10.39 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

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.