Allstate’s (ALL) Strong-Buy Rating Reiterated at Raymond James

Raymond James reissued their strong-buy rating on shares of Allstate (NYSE:ALL) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $250.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $240.00.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Allstate from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.20.

Allstate Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE ALL opened at $204.18 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $198.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.02. The company has a market capitalization of $54.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.36. Allstate has a one year low of $156.66 and a one year high of $212.91.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.98 by ($0.45). Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Allstate will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.32%.

Allstate declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Allstate

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction of $7,480,226.06. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Allstate

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Allstate by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,291,783,000 after purchasing an additional 389,426 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Allstate by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,334,926 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,799,681,000 after purchasing an additional 218,771 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Allstate by 157.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,591,138 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,270,705,000 after buying an additional 4,035,629 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Allstate by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,419,728 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,236,060,000 after purchasing an additional 191,147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Allstate by 64.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $832,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685,694 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Company Profile

The Allstate Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty, and other insurance products in the United States and Canada. It operates in five segments: Allstate Protection; Protection Services; Allstate Health and Benefits; Run-off Property-Liability; and Corporate and Other segments.