Virtus ETF Advisers LLC Takes Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Virtus ETF Advisers LLC acquired a new position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,085 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,173,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,291,783,000 after purchasing an additional 389,426 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Allstate by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,334,926 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,799,681,000 after buying an additional 218,771 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,419,728 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,236,060,000 after buying an additional 191,147 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $832,181,000 after buying an additional 1,685,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Allstate by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,681,306 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $709,719,000 after acquiring an additional 106,730 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Price Performance

Shares of Allstate stock opened at $193.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $51.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $197.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.56. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $156.66 and a 52 week high of $212.91.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Allstate announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Allstate from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In related 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Company 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.