Patten & Patten Inc. TN Purchases New Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN purchased a new stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,196 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in Allstate by 15,062.3% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $215,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111,748 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its stake in Allstate by 69.7% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 708,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,514,000 after acquiring an additional 290,858 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Allstate by 22,981.9% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 269,135 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $51,887,000 after acquiring an additional 267,969 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in Allstate by 291.9% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 356,065 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $67,528,000 after acquiring an additional 265,213 shares during the period. Finally, Prana Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 539.9% in the 3rd quarter. Prana Capital Management LP now owns 273,655 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $51,899,000 after purchasing an additional 230,893 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Allstate Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE:ALL opened at $210.49 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $192.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $192.63. The Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $156.66 and a 52-week high of $211.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $55.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Allstate announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is 23.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total value of $7,480,226.06. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ALL shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Argus upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.94.

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.