Great Lakes Advisors LLC Acquires 129 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,774 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. 76.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Price Performance

NYSE ALL opened at $207.68 on Friday. The Allstate Co. has a 12 month low of $156.66 and a 12 month high of $209.88. The stock has a market cap of $55.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.22, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s 50 day moving average is $191.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on ALL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Allstate from $206.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.94.

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.