Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC Buys New Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,459 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew 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 worth $215,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111,748 shares during the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Allstate during the 3rd quarter worth about $77,819,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Allstate by 688.4% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 460,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $87,292,000 after buying an additional 401,901 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 290,858 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Allstate by 22,981.9% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 269,135 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $51,887,000 after buying an additional 267,969 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Allstate

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Allstate Stock Performance

ALL stock opened at $199.20 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $190.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.04. The Allstate Co. has a fifty-two week low of $153.87 and a fifty-two week high of $209.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.79 billion, a PE ratio of 11.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.52.

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%. Analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ALL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays reduced their target price on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on Allstate from $216.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Allstate from $231.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Allstate has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.94.

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.