EP Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Ally Financial Inc. $ALLY

Key Points

• EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ally Financial Inc. by 331.1% in Q1, owning 27,450 shares worth $1,001,000.
• Wall Street analysts are optimistic about Ally Financial, with Wells Fargo raising its price target from $37.00 to $45.00 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Ally Financial reported strong earnings in July, with EPS of $0.99 exceeding estimates, and also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share.

EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY - Free Report) by 331.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,450 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 21,083 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Ally Financial were worth $1,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Ally Financial by 1.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,797,505 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $320,855,000 after purchasing an additional 134,113 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Ally Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $253,881,000. First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its stake in Ally Financial by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 4,258,760 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $155,317,000 after purchasing an additional 32,121 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ally Financial by 84.0% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 4,202,179 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $151,320,000 after buying an additional 1,918,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd increased its position in shares of Ally Financial by 10.0% during the first quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 3,251,276 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $118,584,000 after buying an additional 295,239 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ALLY. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ally Financial from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $45.00 in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ally Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $47.00 price target (up from $39.00) on shares of Ally Financial in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and set a $59.00 price objective (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Ally Financial in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ally Financial currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.67.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

Ally Financial stock opened at $41.37 on Friday. Ally Financial Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.52 and a fifty-two week high of $42.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $12.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.14. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $39.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.49.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. Ally Financial had a net margin of 7.64% and a return on equity of 9.48%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ally Financial Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Ally Financial's dividend payout ratio is 77.92%.

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.

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