Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $1.03 Million Stock Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 29.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,349 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,228 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $1,031,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Allstate Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Allstate stock opened at $206.46 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $156.66 and a 52-week high of $212.91. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $195.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $193.91.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $1.00 dividend. 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 1.94%. Allstate’s payout ratio is 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays decreased their price target on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.80.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently 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.