Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Makes New $4.94 Million Investment in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 25,622 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,940,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Allstate by 64.1% during 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. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 15,062.3% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $215,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,748 shares during the last quarter. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. bought a new position in Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $143,165,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 1.2% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ALL shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Allstate from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $219.27.

Allstate Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ALL opened at $195.56 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.36. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $156.66 and a 52 week high of $212.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $197.70 and its 200 day moving average is $194.74.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is 23.54%.

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.