Short Interest in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Rises By 17.3%

The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,370,000 shares, an increase of 17.3% from the November 15th total of 2,020,000 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,490,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In other news, insider John E. Dugenske sold 36,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.38, for a total value of $6,959,916.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,364 shares in the company, valued at $5,236,922.32. This trade represents a 57.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ALL. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Allstate during the third quarter valued at approximately $593,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Allstate by 5.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 136,632 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $26,032,000 after buying an additional 6,616 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in Allstate by 28.2% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 40,759 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,730,000 after buying an additional 8,977 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in shares of Allstate by 457.5% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 9,249 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,754,000 after acquiring an additional 7,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 534.3% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 33,530 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,359,000 after acquiring an additional 28,244 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $209.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Allstate from $193.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Allstate from $231.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Allstate from $220.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Allstate from $175.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.19.

Allstate Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Allstate stock traded up $0.24 during trading on Monday, reaching $196.50. The company had a trading volume of 376,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,545,385. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.40. Allstate has a fifty-two week low of $134.17 and a fifty-two week high of $209.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $194.95 and its 200-day moving average is $181.54. The company has a market cap of $52.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.50.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $1.71. Allstate had a return on equity of 26.67% and a net margin of 6.77%. The company had revenue of $16.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. Allstate’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Allstate will post 16.26 EPS for the current year.

Allstate Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.83%.

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.