LPL Financial LLC Has $48.24 Million Stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 250,211 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,238 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Allstate worth $48,238,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ALL. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Allstate during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new stake in Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. 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 research reports. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Allstate has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.94.

Allstate Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE ALL opened at $209.38 on Friday. The Allstate Co. has a twelve month low of $156.66 and a twelve month high of $212.91. The stock has a market cap of $55.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $195.46 and its 200-day moving average is $193.65.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction of $7,480,226.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.