Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Allison Transmission from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Allison Transmission from $110.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Allison Transmission from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Allison Transmission from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.00.

Allison Transmission Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE ALSN opened at $88.65 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.25. Allison Transmission has a 52 week low of $71.49 and a 52 week high of $122.53. The stock has a market cap of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.67 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 3.04.

Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The auto parts company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.11. Allison Transmission had a net margin of 22.67% and a return on equity of 47.95%. On average, research analysts predict that Allison Transmission will post 9.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allison Transmission announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the auto parts company to buy up to 57.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Allison Transmission Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Allison Transmission’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Allison Transmission’s payout ratio is currently 13.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Ryan A. Milburn sold 4,546 shares of Allison Transmission stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.20, for a total transaction of $437,325.20. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,360,075.60. This trade represents a 24.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP John Coll sold 1,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.33, for a total value of $170,450.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,466,938.04. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALSN. City State Bank grew its stake in shares of Allison Transmission by 132.1% in the 1st quarter. City State Bank now owns 1,625 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC bought a new stake in Allison Transmission in the first quarter valued at $2,342,000. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Allison Transmission by 120.3% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,300 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $507,000 after acquiring an additional 2,894 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Allison Transmission by 108,550.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 4,342 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Allison Transmission by 10,402.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 148,289 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $14,187,000 after purchasing an additional 146,877 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.90% of the company’s stock.

Allison Transmission Company Profile

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.