Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Purchases 62,050 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 41.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 210,750 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 62,050 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Allstate worth $40,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Allstate in the 4th quarter worth about $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 64.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $832,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685,694 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 15,062.3% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. purchased a new stake in Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $143,165,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,291,783,000 after acquiring an additional 389,426 shares during the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Allstate Trading Down 0.5 %

Allstate stock opened at $194.53 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $196.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.27. The Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $156.66 and a 52-week high of $212.91. 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 company has a market cap of $51.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. Analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is 23.54%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays cut their target price on Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Argus raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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.