Level Four Advisory Services LLC Raises Stock Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,754 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $1,302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. United Bank acquired a new position in Allstate during the third quarter worth $209,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Allstate by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 933,352 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $177,010,000 after purchasing an additional 98,179 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Allstate by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 4,123 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $782,000 after buying an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Allstate by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 6,286 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,192,000 after buying an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Allstate by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 119,760 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $22,712,000 after buying an additional 9,262 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.80.

Allstate Price Performance

ALL stock opened at $206.46 on Friday. The Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $156.66 and a 52-week high of $212.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $54.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $195.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $193.85.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. 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 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Allstate 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.