Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Has $1.26 Million Stock Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 28.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,556 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,469 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $1,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the third quarter worth $26,000. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Trading Down 1.7 %

Allstate stock opened at $206.60 on Friday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $193.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $193.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.76 billion, a PE ratio of 12.16, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $156.66 and a 52 week high of $212.91.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released 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 return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. Equities research analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.54%.

Allstate announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Argus raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.