Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases New Stake in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 2,406 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cvfg LLC bought a new stake in shares of Allison Transmission during the fourth quarter worth approximately $289,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Allison Transmission by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 20,784 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,246,000 after acquiring an additional 1,366 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Allison Transmission during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Allison Transmission in the 4th quarter worth about $276,000. Finally, City State Bank bought a new stake in Allison Transmission in the 4th quarter valued at about $76,000. 96.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALSN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Allison Transmission from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Allison Transmission from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Allison Transmission from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on Allison Transmission from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Allison Transmission from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Allison Transmission presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.38.

Allison Transmission Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE ALSN opened at $119.54 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $58.77 and a 12 month high of $122.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $114.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.72.

Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The auto parts company reported $2.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.26. Allison Transmission had a net margin of 22.66% and a return on equity of 51.13%. The business had revenue of $824.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $790.08 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.76 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. will post 8.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allison Transmission Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Allison Transmission’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David S. Graziosi sold 1,723 shares of Allison Transmission stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.26, for a total transaction of $207,207.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,833 shares in the company, valued at $20,303,856.58. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP John Coll sold 2,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,420 shares in the company, valued at $695,928. The trade was a 23.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,639 shares of company stock worth $2,683,537 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.