Ritholtz Wealth Management Purchases 374 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,587 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Allstate were worth $1,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Allstate by 484.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 332,104 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,488,000 after acquiring an additional 275,319 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Allstate during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,389,000. Markel Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 141,550 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,770,000 after buying an additional 13,000 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 42.7% in the third quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 12,795 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after buying an additional 3,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Allstate by 9.1% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,261,274 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $140,519,000 after buying an additional 104,758 shares during the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ALL. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Allstate from $171.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Allstate in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $193.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Allstate from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Allstate from $164.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Allstate from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.56.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other news, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $5,276,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 63,731 shares in the company, valued at $10,847,016.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total value of $5,276,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 63,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,847,016.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total transaction of $637,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,712,069.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Allstate Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of ALL traded up $3.18 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $173.02. 1,735,418 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,772,416. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.38. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $100.57 and a 52 week high of $173.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.52 billion, a PE ratio of -139.53, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $5.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $1.95. The company had revenue of $14.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.69 billion. Allstate had a negative net margin of 0.33% and a positive return on equity of 2.67%. Allstate’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.36) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 13.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th will be paid a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 1st. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Allstate’s payout ratio is currently -296.77%.

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.