Zacks Research Downgrades Alliance Laundry (NYSE:ALH) to Hold

Alliance Laundry (NYSE:ALH) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on ALH. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Alliance Laundry from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Alliance Laundry from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Alliance Laundry from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alliance Laundry from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alliance Laundry presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.33.

Alliance Laundry Trading Up 3.5%

ALH opened at $27.02 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.00, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $5.37 billion and a PE ratio of 32.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $25.64. Alliance Laundry has a 12-month low of $18.64 and a 12-month high of $27.48.

Alliance Laundry (NYSE:ALH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 12th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $426.89 million for the quarter. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alliance Laundry will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alliance Laundry news, COO Jan Gommaar M. Vleugels sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.64, for a total value of $1,923,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 599,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,372,795.32. The trade was a 11.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Samantha Leigh Hannan sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.27, for a total value of $157,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 292,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,672,573.82. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 118,056 shares of company stock valued at $3,058,727. 7.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ALH. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in Alliance Laundry during the 4th quarter valued at $14,951,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Alliance Laundry in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,209,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Alliance Laundry in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,105,000. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alliance Laundry during the fourth quarter valued at about $76,161,000. Finally, UBS Group AG bought a new position in shares of Alliance Laundry during the fourth quarter valued at about $19,411,000.

About Alliance Laundry

Alliance Laundry Systems (NYSE: ALH) is a manufacturer and distributor of commercial and residential laundry equipment and related services. The company designs, produces and sells a range of coin-operated and vended machines, on-premises washers and dryers, and allied equipment for laundromats, multi-housing, hospitality, healthcare and other institutional customers. Alliance’s product strategy emphasizes durable, high-throughput machines for professional laundry operators as well as appliances geared to self-service and multi-dwelling applications.

Its product portfolio includes coin-operated and card-operated washers and dryers, stacked and single-pocket models, industrial-grade on-premises equipment, and parts and accessories.