The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Increases Dividend to $1.00 Per Share

The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of 1.00 per share by the insurance provider on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92.

Allstate has raised its dividend by an average of 4.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Allstate has a payout ratio of 17.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Allstate to earn $21.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.1%.

Allstate Stock Down 1.1 %

ALL opened at $188.35 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $190.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $190.68. Allstate has a 52 week low of $153.87 and a 52 week high of $209.88. The company has a market capitalization of $49.87 billion, a PE ratio of 11.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.52. 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 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 net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. Analysts forecast that Allstate will post 18.74 earnings per share 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 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ALL shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $231.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $220.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.94.

Insider Activity

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.