Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Boosts Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 142.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,168 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $2,024,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 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 worth $6,291,783,000 after purchasing an additional 389,426 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in 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 buying an additional 126,922 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Allstate by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,228,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,178,164,000 after buying an additional 74,537 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 1,685,694 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Allstate by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,834,172 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $353,610,000 after acquiring an additional 19,463 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Argus raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.94.

Insider Transactions at Allstate

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction of $7,480,226.06. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of ALL opened at $209.16 on Thursday. The Allstate Co. has a 1-year low of $156.66 and a 1-year high of $212.91. 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 $195.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $193.54. The stock has a market cap of $55.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. Equities analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

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

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

Allstate 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.