Leuthold Group LLC Decreases Position in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN)

Leuthold Group LLC lessened its stake in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,645 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 1,461 shares during the quarter. Leuthold Group LLC’s holdings in Allison Transmission were worth $4,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Allison Transmission by 24.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,745,697 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,224,479,000 after buying an additional 2,493,310 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Allison Transmission in the 3rd quarter worth about $52,156,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in Allison Transmission by 252.5% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 593,044 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $56,974,000 after acquiring an additional 424,813 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Allison Transmission by 34.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 914,918 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $87,896,000 after purchasing an additional 233,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Allison Transmission by 86.7% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 245,148 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $23,551,000 after purchasing an additional 113,868 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David S. Graziosi sold 5,326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.12, for a total value of $639,759.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,280,219.96. The trade was a 3.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP John Coll sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.40, for a total transaction of $216,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $695,928. This represents a 23.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,639 shares of company stock worth $2,448,077. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALSN has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Allison Transmission from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Allison Transmission from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Allison Transmission from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Allison Transmission from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Allison Transmission from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.75.

Allison Transmission Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALSN opened at $100.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.13 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 3.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $111.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $104.21. Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.35 and a twelve month high of $122.53.

Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The auto parts company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.11. Allison Transmission had a net margin of 22.67% and a return on equity of 47.95%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. will post 9.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allison Transmission announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the auto parts company to repurchase up to 57.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Allison Transmission Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Allison Transmission’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Allison Transmission’s payout ratio is currently 12.03%.

About Allison Transmission

Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells fully automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles and medium- and heavy-tactical U.S. defense vehicles, and electrified propulsion systems worldwide. It provides commercial-duty on-highway, off-highway and defense fully automatic transmissions, and electric hybrid and fully electric systems.