The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Shares Purchased by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC grew its stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 14.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,067,746 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 134,394 shares during the period. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $205,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at about $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in Allstate by 64.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 15,062.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $215,757,000 after buying an additional 1,111,748 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in Allstate by 69.7% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 708,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,514,000 after buying an additional 290,858 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Allstate Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE ALL opened at $192.58 on Friday. The Allstate Co. has a 12 month low of $156.66 and a 12 month high of $212.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.18. 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 company has a market cap of $51.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Argus upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $219.27.

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.