Northern Trust Corp Acquires 863,052 Shares of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)

Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY - Free Report) by 28.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,941,459 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 863,052 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.29% of Ally Financial worth $141,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 89.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,051 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Ally Financial during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 218.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,546 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,142 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Ally Financial in the fourth quarter worth $78,000. 88.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ALLY shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Ally Financial from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Ally Financial from $43.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Compass Point upgraded Ally Financial from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $37.00 to $41.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Ally Financial from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Ally Financial from $45.00 to $39.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $41.69.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:ALLY traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $32.30. The stock had a trading volume of 961,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,529,047. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $33.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.95. Ally Financial Inc. has a 1-year low of $29.52 and a 1-year high of $45.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.46, a PEG ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.15. Ally Financial had a net margin of 11.29% and a return on equity of 9.31%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ally Financial Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. Ally Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 88.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Russell E. Hutchinson purchased 8,200 shares of Ally Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $30.81 per share, for a total transaction of $252,642.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 236,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,284,131.01. The trade was a 3.59 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Stephanie N. Richard sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total value of $257,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 90,387 shares in the company, valued at $2,905,038.18. This trade represents a 8.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.