Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,010 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $388,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Allstate during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new stake in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new stake in Allstate in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of ALL opened at $207.68 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $191.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $192.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The Allstate Co. has a 1-year low of $156.66 and a 1-year high of $209.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. Analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows 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 board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s payout ratio is 23.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Allstate from $206.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.94.

Allstate Profile

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.