Prudential Financial Inc. Has $140.34 Million Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 727,936 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,473 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $140,339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ALL. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was 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 approximately $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ALL shares. Argus raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Allstate from $206.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.94.

Allstate Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of ALL stock opened at $206.60 on Monday. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $193.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $193.12. 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.

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

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Allstate’s 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.