Citigroup Cuts Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN) Price Target to $95.00

Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN) had its price objective lowered by Citigroup from $108.00 to $95.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the auto parts company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Allison Transmission from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com lowered Allison Transmission from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Allison Transmission from $129.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.50.

Allison Transmission Price Performance

ALSN stock opened at $88.42 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $99.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.28. The firm has a market cap of $7.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.64 and a beta of 0.95. 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 has a 1 year low of $71.49 and a 1 year high of $122.53.

Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The auto parts company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.11. Allison Transmission had a return on equity of 47.95% and a net margin of 22.67%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Allison Transmission will post 9.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allison Transmission Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This is an increase from Allison Transmission’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Allison Transmission’s payout ratio is 13.00%.

Allison Transmission declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 20th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the auto parts company to repurchase up to 57.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 value of $170,450.04. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Ryan A. Milburn sold 4,546 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.20, for a total value of $437,325.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,360,075.60. This trade represents a 24.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Allison Transmission

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Allison Transmission by 120.3% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,300 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $507,000 after acquiring an additional 2,894 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in Allison Transmission by 108,550.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,346 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 4,342 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Allison Transmission by 10,402.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 148,289 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $14,187,000 after purchasing an additional 146,877 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in Allison Transmission by 363.0% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 500 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Allison Transmission by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,456 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,994,000 after buying an additional 1,871 shares in the last quarter. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.