Cetera Investment Advisers Grows Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,216 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 535 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Allstate were worth $11,416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cercano Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Cercano Management LLC now owns 1,335 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA lifted its stake in Allstate by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. BOKF NA now owns 37,274 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,746,000 after purchasing an additional 16,048 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter worth $52,053,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 353.4% in the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 15,517 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,992,000 after buying an additional 12,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 125,041 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $24,107,000 after buying an additional 2,331 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ALL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Allstate from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Allstate from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (up from $240.00) on shares of Allstate in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Allstate from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.20.

Insider Transactions at Allstate

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This 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 the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE ALL opened at $202.57 on Friday. The Allstate Co. has a 12 month low of $156.66 and a 12 month high of $212.91. The company has a market capitalization of $53.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $199.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $195.17.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $1.00 dividend. 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 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.32%.

Allstate declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.