Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Increases Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,718 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 709 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $1,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Natural Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter worth about $1,200,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,532 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $488,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 2,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $428,000 after buying an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. Morton Community Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Morton Community Bank now owns 20,435 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,940,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 66,855 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,889,000 after buying an additional 11,606 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the 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 directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Argus raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.94.

Allstate Price Performance

NYSE:ALL opened at $207.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $55.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The Allstate Co. has a 12-month low of $156.66 and a 12-month high of $209.88. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $191.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.43.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced 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 net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. Research analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

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 buy up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

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.