Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC Invests $328,000 in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,700 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $328,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ALL. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Allstate during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

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 stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total value of $7,480,226.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Allstate from $209.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays reduced their price target on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Allstate from $220.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.94.

Allstate Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:ALL opened at $199.65 on Thursday. The Allstate Co. has a 12 month low of $154.76 and a 12 month high of $209.88. The stock has a market cap of $52.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $190.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $191.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. Equities analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $1.00 dividend. This is a positive change 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 2.00%. Allstate’s payout ratio is 23.54%.

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.