Ipsen Advisor Group LLC Acquires New Shares in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Ipsen Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 3,057 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $589,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Allstate by 1.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 389,426 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Allstate by 1.1% during 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 buying an additional 126,922 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,228,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,178,164,000 after buying an additional 74,537 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 64.1% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $353,610,000 after acquiring an additional 19,463 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Allstate Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of ALL opened at $208.14 on Wednesday. The Allstate Co. has a 12-month low of $156.66 and a 12-month high of $212.91. 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 company has a market capitalization of $55.16 billion, a PE ratio of 12.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $194.67 and its 200 day moving average is $193.43.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. Research analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.54%.

Allstate announced that its board has initiated a share 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 typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock 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 report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Allstate from $206.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Allstate presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.