Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Buys Shares of 1,230 The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,230 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,496,306 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,190,758,000 after acquiring an additional 126,922 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,228,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,178,164,000 after acquiring an additional 74,537 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 15,062.3% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $215,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111,748 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 933,352 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $177,010,000 after acquiring an additional 98,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 783,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $148,553,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In other Allstate 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on ALL shares. Barclays lowered their price target on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Allstate from $220.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Allstate from $231.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Allstate from $216.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.94.

Allstate Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE ALL opened at $188.35 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $49.87 billion, a PE ratio of 11.09, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The Allstate Co. has a 12 month low of $153.87 and a 12 month high of $209.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $190.05 and a 200-day moving average of $190.68.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.66%.

About Allstate

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.