Colonial Trust Co SC Has $320,000 Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Colonial Trust Co SC increased its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,661 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ALL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.2% during 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. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Allstate by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,334,926 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,799,681,000 after acquiring an additional 218,771 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Allstate by 157.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,591,138 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,270,705,000 after purchasing an additional 4,035,629 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,419,728 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,236,060,000 after purchasing an additional 191,147 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Allstate by 64.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $832,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685,694 shares during the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Argus raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.20.

Allstate Price Performance

Allstate stock opened at $204.18 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.02. 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 company has a market capitalization of $54.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $156.66 and a one year high of $212.91.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.98 by ($0.45). The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.41 billion. Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company 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. 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 1.96%. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s payout ratio is 27.32%.

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

Insider Transactions at Allstate

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the firm’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 completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.