Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) Shares Gap Up to $38.57

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $38.57, but opened at $39.73. Ally Financial shares last traded at $39.06, with a volume of 324,004 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALLY has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ally Financial from $32.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ally Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $37.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $37.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.38.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.48 and its 200-day moving average is $32.30. The stock has a market cap of $11.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90 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 (NYSE:ALLY) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.01. Ally Financial had a net margin of 12.42% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ally Financial Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.13%.

Institutional Trading of Ally Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kinneret Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Ally Financial by 2.3% during the first quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 11,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in shares of Ally Financial by 2.6% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 10,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH increased its holdings in shares of Ally Financial by 1.7% during the first quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 17,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. WBI Investments LLC boosted its stake in Ally Financial by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. WBI Investments LLC now owns 14,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in Ally Financial by 115.0% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

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.