Short Interest in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) Expands By 12.0%

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 9,410,000 shares, an increase of 12.0% from the September 15th total of 8,400,000 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,550,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALLY has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered Ally Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays cut their price objective on Ally Financial from $44.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ally Financial from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Ally Financial from $47.00 to $38.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $40.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ally Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.63.

Ally Financial Trading Down 2.3 %

ALLY traded down $0.82 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $34.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,669,294 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,477,381. Ally Financial has a fifty-two week low of $22.54 and a fifty-two week high of $45.46. The stock has a market cap of $10.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s 50-day moving average is $38.00 and its 200-day moving average is $39.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.33. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 8.37% and a net margin of 10.26%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ally Financial will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.98%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALLY. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Ally Financial by 11.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,697,795 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $384,715,000 after acquiring an additional 987,489 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Ally Financial during the first quarter worth $152,079,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Ally Financial by 0.9% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,697,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $146,670,000 after acquiring an additional 31,491 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its position in shares of Ally Financial by 0.8% during the first quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,774,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $112,616,000 after acquiring an additional 21,657 shares during the period. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd increased its position in shares of Ally Financial by 90.9% during the first quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,529,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,066,000 after acquiring an additional 727,966 shares during the period. 88.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.