Millstone Evans Group LLC Invests $272,000 in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,413 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Allstate in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new stake in Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Allstate from $206.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.94.

Allstate Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of ALL opened at $206.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $193.07. The Allstate Co. has a 1-year low of $156.66 and a 1-year high of $212.91. The stock has a market cap of $54.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Allstate announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.