Stevens Capital Management LP Purchases 103 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Stevens Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,856 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in Allstate were worth $743,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Allstate Price Performance

NYSE ALL opened at $206.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The Allstate Co. has a 1-year low of $156.66 and a 1-year high of $212.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $193.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.09.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted 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 return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. On average, equities analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.54%.

Allstate announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Allstate from $206.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,378,990.95. The trade was 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.

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.