PDS Planning Inc Purchases New Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

PDS Planning Inc purchased a new stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 1,502 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 11.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,270,589 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,595,266,000 after purchasing an additional 3,322,673 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 3.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,926,917 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $660,318,000 after purchasing an additional 172,250 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.3% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,239,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $472,324,000 after purchasing an additional 53,821 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Allstate by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,184,211 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $466,163,000 after acquiring an additional 782,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Allstate by 46.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,121,941 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $459,225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,311,095 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE ALL opened at $175.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.42. The Allstate Co. has a fifty-two week low of $100.57 and a fifty-two week high of $176.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $5.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $1.95. Allstate had a positive return on equity of 2.67% and a negative net margin of 0.33%. The firm had revenue of $14.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($1.36) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 13.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -296.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $5,276,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 63,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,847,016.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total value of $5,276,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 63,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,847,016.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total value of $637,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,736 shares in the company, valued at $1,712,069.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ALL. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Allstate from $164.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Allstate from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Allstate from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Allstate from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Allstate from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.71.

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.