California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 14,958 Shares of Allegion plc (NYSE:ALLE)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in Allegion plc (NYSE:ALLE) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 133,761 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 14,958 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Allegion were worth $17,480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Allegion during the fourth quarter valued at about $108,058,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its holdings in Allegion by 96.8% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,674,644 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $244,063,000 after acquiring an additional 823,874 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Allegion during the 4th quarter valued at about $65,175,000. Boston Partners increased its stake in Allegion by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,716,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $616,503,000 after purchasing an additional 488,390 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in Allegion by 312.4% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 574,012 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $75,012,000 after purchasing an additional 434,820 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on ALLE. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Allegion from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Allegion from $152.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Allegion from $130.00 to $126.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Allegion from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Allegion from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.67.

Allegion Stock Performance

Allegion stock opened at $123.53 on Friday. Allegion plc has a fifty-two week low of $113.27 and a fifty-two week high of $156.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market cap of $10.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.11, a PEG ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.01.

Allegion (NYSE:ALLE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $945.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $938.91 million. Allegion had a return on equity of 45.12% and a net margin of 15.84%. As a group, analysts expect that Allegion plc will post 7.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allegion Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. This is a positive change from Allegion’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Allegion’s payout ratio is presently 29.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Allegion news, SVP David S. Ilardi sold 789 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.28, for a total value of $98,845.92. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,205,820. The trade was a 7.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Nickolas A. Musial sold 403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.70, for a total value of $50,254.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $620,008.40. The trade was a 7.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,224 shares of company stock worth $406,636. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Allegion Company Profile

Allegion plc manufactures and sells mechanical and electronic security products and solutions worldwide. The company offers door controls and systems and exit devices; locks, locksets, portable locks, and key systems and services; electronic security products and access control systems; time, attendance, and workforce productivity systems; doors, accessories, and other.