Allstate (NYSE:ALL) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Bank of America upped their price target on Allstate from $336.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $250.00 to $232.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Allstate from $280.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Allstate from $310.00 to $292.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $270.19.

Allstate Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Allstate stock opened at $247.27 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $246.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $235.24. Allstate has a fifty-two week low of $188.08 and a fifty-two week high of $277.22. The firm has a market cap of $62.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The insurance provider reported $8.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.06 by $2.93. The company had revenue of $18.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.46 billion. Allstate had a return on equity of 41.64% and a net margin of 18.97%. Allstate’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Allstate will post 36.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Mario Rizzo sold 56,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.48, for a total transaction of $14,870,388.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 82,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,747,396.96. This represents a 40.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John E. Dugenske sold 32,996 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.33, for a total transaction of $8,886,812.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 13,054 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,515,833.82. This trade represents a 71.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 1.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALL. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Allstate by 192.3% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 14,198 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,150,000 after buying an additional 9,341 shares in the last quarter. Elevated Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 9.1% in the third quarter. Elevated Financial Group LLC now owns 3,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $780,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Allstate in the third quarter worth about $609,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Allstate by 37.5% in the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 6,465 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Allstate by 1,423.8% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 696,914 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $154,617,000 after acquiring an additional 651,179 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Allstate Company Profile

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) is an insurance company that provides protection products and related services primarily in the United States. Its offerings include automobile, homeowners, renters, condominium, motorcycle and other personal property and casualty insurance, distributed through agents, brokers, direct channels and digital platforms.

The company also provides roadside assistance, identity-protection services and protection plans for consumer products. Through its acquisition of National General, Allstate expanded its presence in independent-agent distribution and specialty personal insurance.