Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN - Get Free Report) shares gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after StockNews.com downgraded the stock from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $114.19, but opened at $97.70. Allison Transmission shares last traded at $98.86, with a volume of 744,148 shares changing hands.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on ALSN. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Allison Transmission from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Allison Transmission from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Allison Transmission from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Allison Transmission from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Allison Transmission has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $100.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David S. Graziosi sold 1,723 shares of Allison Transmission stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.26, for a total value of $207,207.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,303,856.58. The trade was a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP John Coll sold 2,000 shares of Allison Transmission stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.40, for a total transaction of $216,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $695,928. The trade was a 23.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,639 shares of company stock worth $2,448,077 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Allison Transmission

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Allison Transmission by 4,877.2% during the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 444,518 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $48,035,000 after acquiring an additional 435,587 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in Allison Transmission by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 7,060 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $762,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Allison Transmission by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 139,326 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $15,056,000 after purchasing an additional 27,776 shares during the period. AdvisorShares Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Allison Transmission by 1,251.9% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 69,652 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $7,527,000 after acquiring an additional 64,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Allison Transmission during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,099,000. Institutional investors own 96.90% of the company's stock.

Allison Transmission Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 2.25 and a current ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market cap of $9.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $112.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.85.

Allison Transmission (NYSE:ALSN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The auto parts company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.11. Allison Transmission had a net margin of 22.66% and a return on equity of 51.13%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. will post 8.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allison Transmission Company Profile

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.