denkapparat Operations GmbH Invests $481,000 in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

denkapparat Operations GmbH bought a new stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $481,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of ALL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Allstate by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,291,783,000 after purchasing an additional 389,426 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,496,306 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,190,758,000 after purchasing an additional 126,922 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Allstate by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,228,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,178,164,000 after purchasing an additional 74,537 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 64.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $832,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685,694 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Allstate by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,834,172 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $353,610,000 after purchasing an additional 19,463 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Allstate

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of ALL opened at $209.38 on Friday. The Allstate Co. has a twelve month low of $156.66 and a twelve month high of $212.91. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $195.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.65. 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 stock has a market cap of $55.49 billion, a PE ratio of 12.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. Allstate’s payout ratio is 23.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.94.

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.