Magnolia Group LLC Buys 76,000 Shares of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)

Magnolia Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,120,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 76,000 shares during the quarter. Ally Financial accounts for about 10.9% of Magnolia Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Magnolia Group LLC’s holdings in Ally Financial were worth $74,035,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ALLY. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Ally Financial by 34.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,122,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,309,000 after purchasing an additional 795,754 shares during the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ally Financial by 9.4% during the third quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 819,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,855,000 after purchasing an additional 70,615 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV bought a new stake in Ally Financial during the third quarter worth $4,336,000. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Ally Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $724,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 23,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after acquiring an additional 1,755 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $37.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Ally Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. TheStreet raised Ally Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Ally Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James lowered Ally Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ally Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.47.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Ally Financial stock traded down $0.82 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.34. 3,896,942 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,956,350. Ally Financial Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.54 and a 12 month high of $41.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $11.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.40.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.12. Ally Financial had a net margin of 10.59% and a return on equity of 8.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ally Financial Inc. will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.98%.

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.