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Investing.com - Wells Fargo upgraded Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) from Underweight to Equal Weight on Tuesday, raising its price target to $45.00 from $37.00. The financial services company, currently valued at $12.6 billion, is trading near its 52-week high of $43.22, with InvestingPro analysis suggesting the stock is slightly overvalued at current levels.
The upgrade reflects a more balanced risk/reward outlook for the financial services company, particularly as the Federal Reserve appears poised to cut interest rates. Wells Fargo previously maintained caution on Ally due to higher interest rates acting as a headwind and elevated auto delinquencies. The market appears to share this optimistic view, with the stock delivering strong returns over the past three months.Want deeper insights? InvestingPro has identified 7 additional key investment tips for Ally Financial, including crucial profitability and growth metrics.
Wells Fargo believes Ally could modestly improve both its auto net charge-off (NCO) and net interest margin (NIM) guidance in the near term. The firm notes that even modest Federal Reserve rate cuts would benefit Ally’s net interest margin, as auto loans are fixed-rate and funded with deposits.
Ally’s NIM guidance for 2025 stands at 3.4-3.5%, which Wells Fargo suggests could have slight upside potential. The firm calculates that every 10 basis points improvement in NIM translates to approximately 10% earnings per share growth.
The upgrade also follows downward revisions to what Wells Fargo characterized as "overly optimistic" earnings per share estimates for Ally Financial. Despite these revisions, nine analysts have recently upgraded their earnings forecasts for the upcoming period, and the company maintains a respectable 2.92% dividend yield, having sustained dividend payments for ten consecutive years.
In other recent news, Ally Financial has reported strong second-quarter results, with adjusted earnings per share of $0.99, surpassing both JPMorgan’s estimate of $0.82 and the consensus forecast of $0.81. Following these results, Truist Securities and JPMorgan have both raised their price targets for Ally Financial to $45, maintaining their respective Buy and Overweight ratings. Meanwhile, BofA Securities has lowered its price target to $43, despite acknowledging the company’s improved credit trends and earnings beat.
Additionally, Ally Financial announced the upcoming retirement of its Chief Accounting Officer, David J. DeBrunner, with Austin T. McGrath set to succeed him as of August 8, 2025. McGrath, a long-time employee of Ally, has held various accounting positions, most recently serving as executive director for SEC Reporting, Regulatory Reporting, and Risk Finance. Furthermore, Ally Financial has introduced its proprietary AI platform, Ally.ai, to all 10,000 of its employees, aiming to enhance productivity in tasks such as drafting emails, creating meeting agendas, and data analysis.
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