Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $901,000 in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,334 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $901,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in Allison Transmission by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,993,015 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $1,404,025,000 after buying an additional 247,318 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Allison Transmission by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,652,996 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $286,683,000 after buying an additional 76,840 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in Allison Transmission by 301.1% during the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 2,378,731 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $257,046,000 after buying an additional 1,785,687 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in Allison Transmission by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,061,351 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $114,690,000 after buying an additional 69,008 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Allison Transmission during the fourth quarter worth approximately $108,916,000. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALSN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Allison Transmission from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Allison Transmission from $108.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Allison Transmission from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Allison Transmission from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Allison Transmission from $110.00 to $98.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $98.13.

Allison Transmission Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE ALSN traded down $1.53 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $101.99. 724,531 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 645,154. Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.49 and a 12 month high of $122.53. The company has a current ratio of 3.04, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.59 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day moving average of $95.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.66.

Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The auto parts company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.26. Allison Transmission had a net margin of 22.67% and a return on equity of 47.95%. The firm had revenue of $766.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $792.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.90 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. will post 9.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Allison Transmission Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Allison Transmission's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.50%.

Allison Transmission declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the auto parts company to buy up to 57.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Ryan A. Milburn sold 4,546 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.20, for a total transaction of $437,325.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,360,075.60. This represents a 24.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP John Coll sold 1,788 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.33, for a total transaction of $170,450.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,466,938.04. This represents a 10.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 9,746 shares of company stock valued at $966,854. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.