Allstate (NYSE:ALL) Upgraded to “Buy” by HSBC

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) was upgraded by research analysts at HSBC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $190.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $158.00. HSBC’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 11.91% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on ALL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Allstate from $112.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Allstate from $171.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Allstate from $164.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Allstate from $171.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Allstate in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $193.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $165.56.

Allstate Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Allstate stock opened at $169.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. Allstate has a one year low of $100.57 and a one year high of $171.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $159.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.17.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $14.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.69 billion. Allstate had a negative net margin of 0.33% and a positive return on equity of 2.67%. Allstate’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.36) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Allstate will post 13.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,736 shares in the company, valued at $1,712,069.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Allstate

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Allstate by 11.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,270,589 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,595,266,000 after purchasing an additional 3,322,673 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Allstate by 123.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,540,295 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $751,264,000 after purchasing an additional 3,064,105 shares during the period. Cowa LLC acquired a new position in Allstate in the first quarter worth $30,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $212,771,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Allstate by 46.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,121,941 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $459,225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,311,095 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.47% 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.