AdvisorShares Investments LLC Has $7.53 Million Position in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN)

AdvisorShares Investments LLC lifted its position in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN) by 1,251.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 69,652 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 64,500 shares during the period. Allison Transmission makes up about 1.5% of AdvisorShares Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. AdvisorShares Investments LLC’s holdings in Allison Transmission were worth $7,527,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ALSN. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Allison Transmission by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 61,449 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $5,902,000 after purchasing an additional 11,666 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Allison Transmission in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Allison Transmission during the third quarter worth about $67,000. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Allison Transmission in the 3rd quarter valued at $5,932,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Allison Transmission by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 250,050 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $24,955,000 after purchasing an additional 79,745 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on ALSN. 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. StockNews.com downgraded Allison Transmission from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Allison Transmission from $110.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Allison Transmission from $112.00 to $94.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Allison Transmission from $123.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Allison Transmission presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.88.

Allison Transmission Trading Up 0.4 %

Allison Transmission stock opened at $92.15 on Tuesday. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.49 and a fifty-two week high of $122.53. The stock has a market cap of $7.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $94.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.66.

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

Allison Transmission Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. This is a boost from Allison Transmission’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Allison Transmission’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.00%.

Allison Transmission announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan 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 purchase up to 57.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Ryan A. Milburn sold 4,546 shares of Allison Transmission stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 14,138 shares in the company, valued at $1,360,075.60. The trade was a 24.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP John Coll sold 1,788 shares of Allison Transmission stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $1,466,938.04. The trade was 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 company insiders.

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.