Signet Financial Management LLC Makes New Investment in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY)

Signet Financial Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 6,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALLY. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ally Financial by 115.0% in the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ally Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ally Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Ally Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of Ally Financial by 337.8% in the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 1,206 shares in the last quarter. 88.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ally Financial Stock Performance

Shares of ALLY opened at $36.27 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $11.02 billion, a PE ratio of 12.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.78. Ally Financial Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.54 and a 12-month high of $41.56.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.99 billion. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 12.42%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ally Financial Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. Ally Financial’s payout ratio is 40.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ALLY shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Ally Financial in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Raymond James cut shares of Ally Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $32.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.