Traders Buy High Volume of Ally Financial Call Options (NYSE:ALLY)

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 8,589 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 48% compared to the typical volume of 5,815 call options.

Ally Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALLY traded down $0.05 on Monday, hitting $39.25. The company had a trading volume of 1,213,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,941,035. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Ally Financial has a 52-week low of $22.54 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The business has a 50 day moving average of $38.04 and a 200 day moving average of $33.53. The company has a market cap of $11.93 billion, a PE ratio of 16.04, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.40.

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Ally Financial had a return on equity of 8.35% and a net margin of 10.59%. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ally Financial will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ally Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid 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 3.06%. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on ALLY. Bank of America upgraded Ally Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ally Financial from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet upgraded Ally Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Ally Financial from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Ally Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.47.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ally Financial

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Scout Investments Inc. purchased a new position in Ally Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,080,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ally Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,869,000. Ancient Art L.P. purchased a new position in Ally Financial in the third quarter valued at about $41,429,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Ally Financial by 47.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,620,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,599,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Ally Financial by 47.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,316,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061,651 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.76% of the company’s stock.

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.