As of the latest disclosure with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Prospera Financial Services Inc has decreased its holdings in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) by 77.4% during the fourth quarter. Reportedly, the financial services provider sold 127,409 shares during that period resulting in a total stake decline to only 37,132 shares. As per the disclosure, Prospera’s holdings in Ally Financial were worth $908,000 at the end of the quarter.
Ally Financial released its earnings results on April 19th and it was reported that it had missed expectations for EPS, posting $0.82 EPS for the quarter compared to an expected $0.88 EPS estimate. The company also failed to meet revenue forecasts with $2.05 billion for the quarter as opposed to the projected $2.07 billion estimate.
Ally Financial is a popular name in online banking along with securities brokerage and investment advisory services provider globally operating through several segments such as Automotive Finance Operations, Insurance Operations, Mortgage Finance Operations, Corporate Finance Operations, and Corporate and Other operation segment that provides insurance products.
The Automotive Finance Operation segment constitutes retail installment sales contracts while providing term loans to dealerships among other things. Meanwhile, Corporate Finance supports middle market companies among others while facilitating acquisitions leveraged buyouts investments and working capital financing.
On average equity research analysts are forecasting that Ally Financial Inc will post 3.51 earnings per share for this current fiscal year.
Overall Ally Financial has faced difficulty due to recent global financial events but this SEC filing provides new insight about their short-term strategy going forward given how they are responding to decreasing investor confidence through such actions as selling assets like held securities either offloading them or cutting losses themselves notwithstanding guidance estimates established earlier which provided further downward pressure on investor interest levels moving into quarters end or into next fiscal year predictions making it difficult if not impossible resolve accurately where specifically neither downward pressure nor upward movement will emerge in coming weeks and months.
Ally Financial attracts institutional investment as quarterly dividends are announced
Financial services company Ally Financial has seen various institutional investors and hedge funds recently adjust their holdings. ETF Managers Group lifted shares by 5.2% during Q3, Balentine acquired new positions in Ally Financial during Q4 which are now worth $884,000, MML Investors Services LLC purchased an additional 506 shares during the period, while Yousif Capital Management lifted its holdings by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Additionally, Korea Investment CORP increased its stake by 90.4% to own 541,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15m after buying an additional 257,161 shares since Q3. Notably, institutional investors now own 90.35% of the company’s stock.
Ally Financial currently trades on NYSE:ALLY at $25.31 per share with a market capitalisation of $7.61bn as well as a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 1.34; it had a one year low of $21.58 and a one year high of $44.33 with a fifty day moving average price is currently recorded at $25.82 while its 200-day moving average price was previously set at $27.12.
Ally Financial operates across multiple financial sectors from automotive finance to corporate finance operations offering retail installment sales contracts as well as loans including term loans to dealers for financing dealer floor plans and other lines of credit to dealers; fleet financing , providing financing for companies and municipalities for the purchase or lease of vehicles; and vehicle-remarketing services amongst others.
The firm also announced recently that there will be quarterly dividends paid out on Monday May 15th this year which will equate to $0.30 per share to be paid out to stockholders of record from May 1st this year marking a total annualized dividend of $1.20 and a dividend yield of 4.74%. Ally Financial’s dividend payout ratio is noted to be 29.48% with several equity analysts’ reports rates it as “hold” whilst two rate it as “sell”, and five have assigned a buy rating with the consensus target price being set at $34.87 by Bloomberg’s report analyses.
The various institutional adjustments in holdings together signify that Ally Financial is seen as providing solid investment opportunities, though caution should always be exercised while making investment decisions in the market, especially in response to systemically generated market data insights like those being offered here which may or may not translate into reliable intelligence for specific investor decision-making purposes.
