Allianz SE Takes Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,630 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 389,426 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Allstate by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,496,306 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,190,758,000 after acquiring an additional 126,922 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Allstate by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,228,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,178,164,000 after buying an additional 74,537 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 64.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $832,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,685,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Allstate by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,834,172 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $353,610,000 after purchasing an additional 19,463 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Allstate Price Performance

Shares of Allstate stock opened at $206.46 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a fifty day moving average of $195.81 and a 200-day moving average of $193.91. The Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $156.66 and a 52-week high of $212.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.36.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate declared that its board has authorized a share 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 reacquire up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. 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 1.94%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.54%.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In related 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 value of $7,480,226.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Argus raised 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, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.80.

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.