Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. Boosts Stake in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN)

Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,884 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the period. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Allison Transmission were worth $744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in Allison Transmission during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. SRH Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Allison Transmission during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Allison Transmission during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its position in shares of Allison Transmission by 1,650.0% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 420 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Allison Transmission during the fourth quarter worth $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.90% of the company’s stock.

Allison Transmission Price Performance

NYSE ALSN opened at $106.24 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 3.04 and a quick ratio of 2.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $94.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.54. Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.49 and a 1 year high of $122.53. The company has a market cap of $8.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.97.

Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The auto parts company reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.26. Allison Transmission had a return on equity of 47.95% and a net margin of 22.67%. The firm had revenue of $766.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $792.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. will post 9.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Allison Transmission announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program 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 repurchase up to 57.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Allison Transmission Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Allison Transmission’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Allison Transmission news, VP Ryan A. Milburn sold 4,546 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now directly 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 is accessible through this link. Also, SVP John Coll sold 1,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.33, for a total value of $170,450.04. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,388 shares in the company, valued at $1,466,938.04. This represents 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 owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ALSN shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Allison Transmission from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Allison Transmission from $123.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Allison Transmission from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Allison Transmission from $110.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price target on Allison Transmission from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Allison Transmission currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.63.

Allison Transmission 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.