Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 110,138 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 80.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 246,770 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 110,138 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.09% of Allstate worth $47,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Allstate by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 577,934 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $109,605,000 after purchasing an additional 28,584 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Allstate by 117.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $944,000 after buying an additional 2,643 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Allstate by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 58,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $11,297,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Allstate by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 508,664 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $98,065,000 after buying an additional 48,382 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its position in Allstate by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 401,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $77,413,000 after acquiring an additional 100,311 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Stock Down 9.1 %

ALL opened at $186.74 on Friday. The Allstate Co. has a fifty-two week low of $156.66 and a fifty-two week high of $212.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average is $197.37 and its 200 day moving average is $194.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. Research analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend yield of 2.14%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.54%.

Allstate announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ALL. StockNews.com downgraded Allstate from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Allstate presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total value of $7,480,226.06. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Allstate

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.