18,862 Shares in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Bought by Zacks Investment Management

Zacks Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 18,862 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,637,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Allstate by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $832,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,685,694 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position 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 worth $215,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111,748 shares during the period. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter worth approximately $143,165,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Allstate by 1.2% during 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.27.

Allstate Trading Up 0.2 %

ALL opened at $194.61 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $156.66 and a 1-year high of $212.91. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $197.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.31. The company has a market cap of $51.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. Analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company 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 is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Allstate

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total value of $7,480,226.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.