Hopwood Financial Services Inc. Purchases New Stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 150 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $57,000. 76.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of ALL stock opened at $198.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $52.60 billion, a PE ratio of 11.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $192.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $156.66 and a 52-week high of $209.88.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, equities analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on ALL shares. 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 research report on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Allstate currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.94.

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.