Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) Short Interest Up 9.8% in August

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,770,000 shares, a growth of 9.8% from the July 31st total of 7,990,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,480,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ALLY shares. Citigroup started coverage on Ally Financial in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Ally Financial in a research note on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Ally Financial from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $39.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.41.

Ally Financial Stock Up 1.7 %

ALLY stock traded up $0.73 during trading on Monday, reaching $43.19. 3,637,200 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,213,280. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.64. Ally Financial has a 12 month low of $22.54 and a 12 month high of $45.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $13.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.41.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.03 billion. Ally Financial had a net margin of 10.26% and a return on equity of 8.37%. The company’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ally Financial will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. Ally Financial’s payout ratio is presently 48.98%.

Institutional Trading of Ally Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALLY. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Ally Financial by 245.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 608,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,687,000 after buying an additional 432,350 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Ally Financial by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,662,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,040,000 after purchasing an additional 261,897 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its stake in Ally Financial by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 880,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,933,000 after purchasing an additional 32,478 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in shares of Ally Financial by 15.5% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 369,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,988,000 after buying an additional 49,539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its stake in Ally Financial by 309.5% during the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 99,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,031,000 after purchasing an additional 75,063 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

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.