South Dakota Investment Council Invests $3.37 Million in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)

South Dakota Investment Council purchased a new stake in shares of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 92,393 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,370,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Ally Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,998,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in Ally Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,462,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ally Financial by 59.6% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,010 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Ally Financial by 56.3% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 67,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,466,000 after buying an additional 24,372 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Ally Financial by 40.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,295 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 952 shares during the period. 88.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ALLY. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Ally Financial from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Compass Point raised Ally Financial from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Ally Financial in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and set a $59.00 price objective (up from $55.00) on shares of Ally Financial in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ally Financial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $42.73.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

Shares of ALLY traded down $1.14 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $38.74. The company had a trading volume of 6,673,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,785,593. Ally Financial Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.52 and a 52-week high of $45.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.15, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.12.

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

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. Ally Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ally Financial

In other Ally Financial news, CFO Russell E. Hutchinson bought 8,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $30.81 per share, with a total value of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 236,421 shares in the company, valued at $7,284,131.01. The trade was a 3.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Stephanie N. Richard sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total value of $257,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 90,387 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,905,038.18. This represents a 8.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.