Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.12 EPS

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.12, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. Ally Financial had a net margin of 12.42% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share.

Ally Financial Trading Up 6.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ALLY opened at $38.71 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.40. Ally Financial has a 12-month low of $22.54 and a 12-month high of $41.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.13%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ally Financial

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sessa Capital IM L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Ally Financial by 426.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 7,689,915 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $148,137,000 after purchasing an additional 4,005,417 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $100,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,884,833 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $212,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $62,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101,794 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ALLY shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Ally Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Ally Financial in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. TheStreet raised shares of Ally Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Raymond James lowered shares of Ally Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ally Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.59.

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.