Swiss National Bank Sells 19,300 Shares of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 848,820 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 19,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.28% of Ally Financial worth $29,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ALLY. Ancient Art L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Ally Financial in the third quarter valued at $41,429,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Ally Financial by 47.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,620,655 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $96,599,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165,220 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Ally Financial by 47.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,316,501 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $88,484,000 after buying an additional 1,061,651 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Ally Financial by 4,867.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,001,294 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,715,000 after buying an additional 981,138 shares during the period. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new position in Ally Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $27,975,000. 88.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ally Financial Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE ALLY traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $39.75. 1,326,274 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,832,682. Ally Financial Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.54 and a 1-year high of $41.56. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a market cap of $12.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.39.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.12. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 8.35% and a net margin of 10.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. Ally Financial's quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ally Financial Inc. will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, 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 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. Ally Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ally Financial from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Ally Financial from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Ally Financial in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ally Financial from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $39.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Ally Financial from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.47.

Ally Financial 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.