Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 2,010 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $388,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. United Bank acquired a new position in shares of Allstate during the third quarter worth approximately $209,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Allstate during the third quarter valued at approximately $284,000. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Allstate by 5.4% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,503 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Allstate by 3.0% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $664,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Allstate during the third quarter valued at approximately $232,000. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Allstate Trading Up 2.8 %

NYSE ALL opened at $207.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $55.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $191.72 and its 200-day moving average is $192.43. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $156.66 and a one year high of $209.88.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program 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 programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ALL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Allstate from $206.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays lowered their price target on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.