J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Acquires 18,125 Shares of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG boosted its holdings in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) by 69.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 44,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,125 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Ally Financial were worth $1,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ally Financial by 113.2% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 60,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,164,000 after purchasing an additional 31,915 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ally Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,955,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Ally Financial by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 22,026 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $793,000 after buying an additional 3,469 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ally Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,046,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 156,242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,626,000 after acquiring an additional 12,817 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ALLY shares. BTIG Research cut Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Ally Financial from $43.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Compass Point raised shares of Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $45.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. For consumer lenders, the Trump Administration’s hardline approach to tariffs is “difficult to ignore” and there’s clearly more downside to the group if tariffs remain near current levels. If tariffs remain in place, risks to growth would skew meaningfully to the downside and risks to inflation to the upside, adds the analyst, who is downgrading the firm’s Consumer Finance industry view to Cautious from Attractive. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ally Financial news, CEO Michael George Rhodes purchased 25,634 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $39.09 per share, with a total value of $1,002,033.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,002,033.06. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Russell E. Hutchinson purchased 19,100 shares of Ally Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $39.45 per share, with a total value of $753,495.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 202,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,002,235.25. The trade was a 10.39 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Ally Financial Trading Up 4.5 %

ALLY opened at $31.45 on Wednesday. Ally Financial Inc. has a twelve month low of $29.52 and a twelve month high of $45.46. The firm has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $34.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.13.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.15. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 11.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ally Financial Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.24%.

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.