Ellsworth Advisors LLC Takes Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 30,805 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,312,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ALL. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 484.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 332,104 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,488,000 after acquiring an additional 275,319 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate during the third quarter worth $2,389,000. Markel Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 10.1% during the third quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 141,550 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $15,770,000 after acquiring an additional 13,000 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 42.7% during the third quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 12,795 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 3,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 9.1% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,261,274 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $140,519,000 after acquiring an additional 104,758 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Stock Up 1.9 %

ALL stock traded up $3.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $173.01. 1,735,780 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,138,279. The Allstate Co. has a twelve month low of $100.57 and a twelve month high of $173.47. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $5.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $1.95. The firm had revenue of $14.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.69 billion. Allstate had a negative net margin of 0.33% and a positive return on equity of 2.67%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.36) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 13.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on ALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Allstate from $112.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $164.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $171.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. TheStreet raised shares of Allstate from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $165.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Allstate news, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,736 shares in the company, valued at $1,712,069.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total value of $637,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,736 shares in the company, valued at $1,712,069.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $5,276,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 63,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,847,016.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

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.