735 Shares in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Bought by CoreFirst Bank & Trust

CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 735 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $142,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 5.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 577,934 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,605,000 after buying an additional 28,584 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Allstate by 117.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $944,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Allstate by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 58,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $11,297,000 after acquiring an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 508,664 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $98,065,000 after purchasing an additional 48,382 shares during the period. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 401,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $77,413,000 after purchasing an additional 100,311 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Allstate Price Performance

Allstate stock opened at $207.51 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $193.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21, a PEG 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 Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $156.66 and a 52-week high of $212.91.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ALL shares. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Allstate from $206.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Argus upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Allstate currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.94.

About Allstate

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.