Merit Financial Group LLC Takes Position in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,406 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Allison Transmission by 111.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,101 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,218 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in Allison Transmission by 18.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,184 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $318,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Allison Transmission in the second quarter valued at about $217,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Allison Transmission by 4.7% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 74,668 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $5,671,000 after buying an additional 3,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. boosted its holdings in Allison Transmission by 13.2% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 101,847 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $7,730,000 after buying an additional 11,914 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Allison Transmission from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Allison Transmission from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Allison Transmission from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Allison Transmission from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Allison Transmission from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Allison Transmission presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.38.

Allison Transmission Price Performance

NYSE ALSN opened at $119.54 on Friday. Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.77 and a 12-month high of $122.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $114.19 and its 200-day moving average is $100.72. The company has a market capitalization of $10.35 billion, a PE ratio of 14.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.25, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

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

Allison Transmission Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Allison Transmission

In other news, CEO David S. Graziosi sold 1,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.26, for a total transaction of $207,207.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,833 shares in the company, valued at $20,303,856.58. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP John Coll sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.40, for a total transaction of $216,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $695,928. This trade represents a 23.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,639 shares of company stock worth $2,683,537 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.