Providence Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 268 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Providence Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,072 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 268 shares during the quarter. Allstate makes up about 2.0% of Providence Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $2,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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. Barclays dropped their price target 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. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.94.

Allstate Price Performance

Shares of Allstate stock opened at $209.16 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $55.43 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50 day moving average of $195.10 and a 200 day moving average of $193.54. 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.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 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, equities research analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Allstate’s payout ratio is currently 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Allstate

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

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.