West Oak Capital LLC Grows Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

West Oak Capital LLC raised its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 60.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 663 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 raised its holdings in Allstate by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 now owns 8,567 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new position in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at $260,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Allstate by 484.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 332,104 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $46,488,000 after acquiring an additional 275,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invera Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Allstate during the 4th quarter worth $1,549,000. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of Allstate stock traded up $3.05 on Thursday, hitting $172.89. The company had a trading volume of 380,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,749,225. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $100.57 and a 52 week high of $173.19. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $159.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.17. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $5.82 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.36) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 13.11 EPS for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.92 per share. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 1st. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -296.77%.

Insider Transactions at Allstate

In related news, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total transaction of $637,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 10,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,712,069.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $130.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Allstate from $164.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. TheStreet raised Allstate from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $155.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $158.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Allstate currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.56.

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.