Russell Investments Group Ltd. Cuts Stake in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its holdings in Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN - Free Report) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 382,749 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 36,410 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.43% of Allison Transmission worth $22,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ALSN. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in Allison Transmission by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 706 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Allison Transmission by 0.6% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 36,447 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $2,153,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Allison Transmission by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,229 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Allison Transmission by 4.6% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,774 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Americana Partners LLC lifted its stake in Allison Transmission by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 4,878 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Allison Transmission

In other news, VP Ryan A. Milburn sold 2,598 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.40, for a total transaction of $195,889.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,456 shares in the company, valued at $1,089,982.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO David S. Graziosi sold 76,318 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total value of $5,385,761.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 125,479 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,855,053.03. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Ryan A. Milburn sold 2,598 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.40, for a total transaction of $195,889.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,456 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,089,982.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 87,843 shares of company stock worth $6,244,562. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on ALSN. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Allison Transmission from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Allison Transmission from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Allison Transmission in a report on Monday, January 8th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Allison Transmission from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Allison Transmission from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.71.

Allison Transmission Price Performance

Shares of Allison Transmission stock traded up $0.89 during trading on Thursday, hitting $74.66. The stock had a trading volume of 536,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 689,410. The firm has a market cap of $6.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.04. Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.36 and a 12 month high of $83.42. The business's 50-day moving average is $78.08 and its 200 day moving average is $64.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79.

Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The auto parts company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $789.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $772.37 million. Allison Transmission had a net margin of 21.80% and a return on equity of 55.83%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. will post 7.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Allison Transmission Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Allison Transmission's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Allison Transmission's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.35%.

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.