O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,140 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 902 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Allison Transmission were worth $5,742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in shares of Allison Transmission by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 125,354 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $13,542,000 after purchasing an additional 14,037 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Allison Transmission by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 656,336 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $70,924,000 after buying an additional 14,038 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Allison Transmission by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 80,527 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $8,702,000 after acquiring an additional 3,605 shares during the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Allison Transmission in the fourth quarter valued at $343,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Allison Transmission by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 12,668 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,369,000 after acquiring an additional 989 shares during the last quarter. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALSN has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Allison Transmission from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Allison Transmission from $129.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Allison Transmission from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Allison Transmission from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Allison Transmission from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Allison Transmission presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.13.

Allison Transmission Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE ALSN opened at $97.27 on Wednesday. Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.49 and a 1-year high of $122.53. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $104.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 3.04 and a quick ratio of 2.42.

Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The auto parts company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. will post 9.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allison Transmission Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. 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 1.11%. Allison Transmission’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.00%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Ryan A. Milburn sold 4,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.20, for a total transaction of $437,325.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,360,075.60. This represents a 24.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.