Sara Bay Financial Buys 1,261 Shares of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)

Sara Bay Financial grew its stake in shares of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY – Get Rating) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,261 shares during the quarter. Sara Bay Financial’s holdings in Ally Financial were worth $308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ally Financial by 115.0% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. Syverson Strege & Co bought a new stake in shares of Ally Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of Ally Financial by 99.8% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ally Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Ally Financial by 145.4% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares during the period. 90.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on ALLY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ally Financial from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Ally Financial from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ally Financial from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Ally Financial from $34.00 to $45.00 in a report on Sunday, January 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Ally Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $25.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ally Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.24.

Ally Financial Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of Ally Financial stock opened at $22.29 on Friday. Ally Financial Inc. has a one year low of $21.58 and a one year high of $45.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $29.77 and its 200 day moving average is $28.44. The firm has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.37.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.10. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 17.98% and a net margin of 20.34%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ally Financial Inc. will post 3.65 EPS for the current year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 1st were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 31st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.38%. Ally Financial’s payout ratio is currently 24.14%.

Ally Financial Profile

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Ally Financial, Inc engages in the provision of online banking, securities brokerage, and investment advisory services. It operates through the following segments: Automotive Finance Operations, Insurance Operations, Mortgage Finance Operations, Corporate Finance Operations, and Corporate and Other. The Automotive Finance Operations segment offers retail installment sales contracts, loans, and operating leases, offering term loans to dealers, financing dealer floor plans and other lines of credit to dealers, warehouse lines to automotive retailers, fleet financing, providing financing to companies and municipalities for the purchase or lease of vehicles, and vehicle-remarketing services.