Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 25,767 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 131,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,767 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $25,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in Allstate during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Allstate in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in Allstate in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Allstate in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $58,000. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Allstate from $205.00 to $207.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Allstate from $216.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Allstate from $231.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.13.

Allstate Stock Up 1.7 %

ALL opened at $191.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $50.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.39, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $195.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.08. The Allstate Co. has a twelve month low of $150.17 and a twelve month high of $209.88.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $1.71. The firm had revenue of $16.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.57 billion. Allstate had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 26.67%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 16.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.92 dividend. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.83%.

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.