Employees Retirement System of Texas Buys 13,003 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 27.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 60,392 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,003 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Allstate were worth $11,643,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter worth approximately $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Allstate by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $832,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685,694 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 15,062.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $215,757,000 after buying an additional 1,111,748 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Allstate by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,291,783,000 after purchasing an additional 389,426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 69.7% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 708,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,514,000 after purchasing an additional 290,858 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of ALL opened at $186.74 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $49.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The Allstate Co. has a twelve month low of $156.66 and a twelve month high of $212.91. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $197.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.38.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its 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 net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. On average, analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Argus upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com cut Allstate from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Allstate presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total value 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 approximately $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Company 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.