** Consumer lender Ally Financial ALLY.N down 2.9% to $36.8 premarket

** Brokerage BTIG downgrades company's shares to "sell" from "neutral"

** BTIG is the only brokerage with a "sell" rating among 19 analysts covering the stock

** Brokerage has concerns that increased competition will lower company's asset yields and loan volumes, hindering its financial targets

** Brokerage says it will be difficult for company to achieve its net interest margin target due to compressing asset yields and insufficient auto loan originations

** Earlier this month, company reported that $2.8 bln of low-yielding investment securities were sold as part of a repositioning strategy, which is expected to modestly increase the consumer lender's interest income

** Ally Financial's shares rose 5.2% YTD vs 3.5% rise in Dow Jones U.S. Financials index .DJUSFN

(Reporting by Rashika Singh in Bengaluru)

((rashika.singh@thomsonreuters.com))