Venturi Wealth Management LLC Acquires 468 Shares of Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN) by 62.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,212 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Allison Transmission were worth $131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Allison Transmission by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,745,697 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,224,479,000 after purchasing an additional 2,493,310 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Allison Transmission by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,961,834 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $188,511,000 after purchasing an additional 79,506 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in Allison Transmission by 252.5% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 593,044 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $56,974,000 after purchasing an additional 424,813 shares during the last quarter. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Allison Transmission from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Allison Transmission from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Allison Transmission from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Allison Transmission from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Allison Transmission from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.75.

Insider Activity 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 shares were sold at an average price of $108.40, for a total transaction of $216,800.00. Following the transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David S. Graziosi sold 1,723 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 168,833 shares in the company, valued at $20,303,856.58. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,639 shares of company stock valued at $2,448,077 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Allison Transmission Price Performance

Shares of ALSN opened at $100.76 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $111.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.48. Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.35 and a fifty-two week high of $122.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.62 billion, a PE ratio of 12.13 and a beta of 1.00. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The auto parts company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.11. Allison Transmission had a net margin of 22.67% and a return on equity of 47.95%. Equities analysts predict that Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. will post 9.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allison Transmission Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Allison Transmission’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. Allison Transmission’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.03%.

Allison Transmission announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, February 20th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the auto parts company to reacquire up to 57.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.