Essex Financial Services Inc. Boosts Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,434 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 491 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $1,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Allstate by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,112,468 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $884,508,000 after acquiring an additional 90,390 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Allstate during the 4th quarter worth about $212,771,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Allstate by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 818,489 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $130,680,000 after acquiring an additional 8,454 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Allstate by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 716,757 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $123,574,000 after acquiring an additional 75,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Allstate by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 687,386 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $118,925,000 after acquiring an additional 6,760 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Robert Toohey sold 16,682 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.17, for a total transaction of $3,005,595.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $877,968.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Robert Toohey sold 16,682 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.17, for a total value of $3,005,595.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $877,968.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Suren Gupta sold 45,775 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.28, for a total transaction of $8,114,992.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,942,790.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 201,938 shares of company stock valued at $36,122,740 in the last three months. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Allstate Stock Performance

ALL traded up $1.50 during trading on Friday, reaching $188.94. 1,430,560 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,560,952. The Allstate Co. has a 1 year low of $105.57 and a 1 year high of $189.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $171.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.25.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The insurance provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $1.28. The firm had revenue of $15.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.04 billion. Allstate had a net margin of 5.03% and a return on equity of 24.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($4.42) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 15.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Allstate from $177.00 to $175.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Allstate from $199.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Allstate from $199.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Allstate from $213.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Allstate from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.94.

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.