Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Grows Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,718 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $1,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Apella Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $623,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Allstate by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in shares of Allstate by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ALL shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Allstate from $206.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Argus upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Allstate presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.94.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of ALL stock opened at $207.68 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $55.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.22, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50 day moving average of $191.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $192.43. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $156.66 and a 52 week high of $209.88. 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 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the 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 $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is 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.