Insider Spends US$753k Buying More Shares In Ally Financial

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Chief Financial Officer, Russell E Hutchinson, recently bought a whopping US$753k worth of stock, at a price of US$39.45. Not only is that a big swing, but it increased their holding size by 10%, which is definitely great to see.

Check out our latest analysis for Ally Financial

Ally Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by Russell E Hutchinson is the biggest insider purchase of Ally Financial shares that we've seen in the last year. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being US$39.06). While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when an insider has purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price. Russell E Hutchinson was the only individual insider to buy during the last year.

You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insider Ownership Of Ally Financial

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that Ally Financial insiders own 0.7% of the company, worth about US$86m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Do The Ally Financial Insider Transactions Indicate?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest Ally Financial insiders are well aligned, and that they may think the share price is too low. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Ally Financial. While conducting our analysis, we found that Ally Financial has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore it.

Of course Ally Financial may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.