The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Stake Raised by Nicolet Advisory Services LLC

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,808 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $689,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ALL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Allstate by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,291,783,000 after buying an additional 389,426 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,496,306 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,190,758,000 after acquiring an additional 126,922 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Allstate by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,419,728 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,236,060,000 after purchasing an additional 191,147 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $832,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,834,172 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $353,610,000 after purchasing an additional 19,463 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on ALL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Allstate from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of 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 raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.80.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of ALL stock opened at $205.37 on Friday. The Allstate Co. has a fifty-two week low of $156.66 and a fifty-two week high of $212.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $197.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.35. 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 has a market cap of $54.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. Analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.