Sheets Smith Investment Management Takes $1.78 Million Position in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN)

Sheets Smith Investment Management purchased a new stake in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 16,495 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,782,000. Allison Transmission makes up 1.5% of Sheets Smith Investment Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ALSN. FMR LLC grew its position in Allison Transmission by 24.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,745,697 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,224,479,000 after buying an additional 2,493,310 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Allison Transmission by 4.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,961,834 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $188,511,000 after buying an additional 79,506 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Allison Transmission by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,682,076 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $161,597,000 after buying an additional 13,252 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in Allison Transmission by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,061,351 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $114,690,000 after buying an additional 69,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Allison Transmission by 34.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 914,918 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $87,896,000 after buying an additional 233,214 shares in the last quarter. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allison Transmission

In other Allison Transmission news, SVP John Coll sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.40, for a total transaction of $216,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $695,928. This represents a 23.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Ryan A. Milburn sold 4,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.20, for a total value 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. The trade was a 24.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Allison Transmission Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE ALSN opened at $96.38 on Monday. Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.49 and a 1-year high of $122.53. The company has a current ratio of 3.04, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $106.89 and a 200-day moving average of $106.02. The firm has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a PE ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 1.02.

Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The auto parts company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.11. Allison Transmission had a return on equity of 47.95% and a net margin of 22.67%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. will post 9.06 EPS for the current year.

Allison Transmission declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the auto parts company to buy up to 57.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are 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 dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Allison Transmission’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. Allison Transmission’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on ALSN shares. StockNews.com cut Allison Transmission from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Allison Transmission from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Allison Transmission from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Allison Transmission from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Allison Transmission from $129.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.00.

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.