National Bank of Canada FI Increases Stock Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 38.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 195,159 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 54,396 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Allstate were worth $37,625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total value of $7,480,226.06. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Allstate from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. Argus upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.80.

Allstate Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ALL opened at $205.59 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.28. The company has a market cap of $54.49 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The Allstate Co. has a 12 month low of $156.66 and a 12 month high of $212.91.

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

Allstate announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is 23.54%.

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.