Crestline Management LP Takes $1.15 Million Position in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)

Crestline Management LP bought a new position in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 31,793 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,145,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ally Financial by 1,239.6% during the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 148,152 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,335,000 after buying an additional 161,152 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Ally Financial by 192.7% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 53,364 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,922,000 after purchasing an additional 35,130 shares during the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Ally Financial by 262.0% during the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 75,854 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 54,898 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 49.7% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,910 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 2,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of Ally Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $396,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.76% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Ally Financial from $43.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of 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. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, BTIG Research cut shares of Ally Financial from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $41.69.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ALLY traded down $0.74 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $35.91. 1,262,276 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,186,695. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.14. Ally Financial Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.52 and a 52-week high of $45.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.79 and a 200-day moving average of $35.96.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. Ally Financial had a net margin of 11.29% and a return on equity of 9.31%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ally Financial Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Ally Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 88.24%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Stephanie N. Richard sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total transaction of $257,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 90,387 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,905,038.18. The trade was a 8.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Russell E. Hutchinson acquired 8,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $30.81 per share, with a total value of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.56% 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.