16,495 Shares in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN) Acquired by Sheets Smith Investment Management

Sheets Smith Investment Management purchased a new position in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 16,495 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,782,000. Allison Transmission comprises 1.5% of Sheets Smith Investment Management’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Allison Transmission by 24.3% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Allison Transmission by 4.2% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Allison Transmission by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,682,076 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $161,597,000 after purchasing an additional 13,252 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in Allison Transmission by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,061,351 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $114,690,000 after purchasing an additional 69,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Allison Transmission by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 914,918 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $87,896,000 after purchasing an additional 233,214 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Allison Transmission news, SVP John Coll sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.40, for a total value of $216,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $695,928. This represents a 23.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Ryan A. Milburn sold 4,546 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.20, for a total value of $437,325.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now 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 owned by insiders.

Allison Transmission Price Performance

Shares of Allison Transmission stock opened at $96.38 on Monday. Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $71.49 and a one year high of $122.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $106.89 and its 200 day moving average is $106.02. The stock has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 1.02. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The auto parts company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the auto parts company to buy up to 57.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Allison Transmission Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Allison Transmission’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Allison Transmission’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.