Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 37,033 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 443,608 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,033 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $84,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in Allstate by 64.1% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 15,062.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $215,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111,748 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Allstate by 1.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 389,426 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in Allstate by 69.7% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 708,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,514,000 after purchasing an additional 290,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Allstate by 22,981.9% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 269,135 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $51,887,000 after purchasing an additional 267,969 shares during the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ALL. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.94.

Allstate Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of ALL opened at $209.38 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.49 billion, a PE ratio of 12.32, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $195.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $193.65. 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 Allstate Co. has a 12 month low of $156.66 and a 12 month high of $212.91.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is 23.54%.

Allstate announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Allstate 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by 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.