LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 20.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,143 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 543 shares during the quarter. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 577,934 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,605,000 after buying an additional 28,584 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Allstate by 117.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $944,000 after purchasing an additional 2,643 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Allstate by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 58,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $11,297,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 508,664 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $98,065,000 after purchasing an additional 48,382 shares during the period. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its position in Allstate by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 401,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $77,413,000 after buying an additional 100,311 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Allstate Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:ALL opened at $192.58 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $196.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.22. The stock has a market cap of $51.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The Allstate Co. has a 12 month low of $156.66 and a 12 month high of $212.91.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ALL. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Allstate presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.27.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by 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.