MetLife Investment Management LLC Grows Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,854 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,356 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $13,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Allstate in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in Allstate in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Allstate during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Allstate from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Allstate currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.27.

Allstate Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ALL opened at $194.61 on Monday. The Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $156.66 and a 52-week high of $212.91. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $197.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.42. 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 $51.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.45, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released 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 predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

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.