Covestor Ltd Buys 149 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 29.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 657 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Allstate were worth $126,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in Allstate in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their price objective on Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Argus raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $219.27.

Allstate Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of ALL stock opened at $192.58 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $196.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.18. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $156.66 and a 52 week high of $212.91. The stock has a market cap of $51.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.33, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. 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 posted its earnings results 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.54%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.