Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.12 EPS

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.12, Briefing.com reports. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 8.35% and a net margin of 10.59%. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Ally Financial stock opened at $39.08 on Friday. Ally Financial has a one year low of $22.54 and a one year high of $41.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 48.98%.

Institutional Trading of Ally Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALLY. Sessa Capital IM L.P. increased its position in Ally Financial by 426.5% in the 1st quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 9,493,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $241,979,000 after buying an additional 7,689,915 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Ally Financial by 195.1% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,058,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $148,137,000 after purchasing an additional 4,005,417 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ally Financial by 233.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,118,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,884,833 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Ally Financial by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,343,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $212,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ally Financial by 89.9% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,327,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101,794 shares in the last quarter. 88.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALLY has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ally Financial in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Bank of America upgraded Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ally Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Ally Financial in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James lowered Ally Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Four 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.47.

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.