Wright Investors Service Inc. Buys Shares of 2,774 The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Wright Investors Service Inc. bought a new stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,774 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $388,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,270,589 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,595,266,000 after purchasing an additional 3,322,673 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,039,351 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $669,221,000 after purchasing an additional 499,056 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,926,917 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $660,318,000 after purchasing an additional 172,250 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,815,257 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $643,015,000 after purchasing an additional 63,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,239,513 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $472,324,000 after buying an additional 53,821 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on ALL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Allstate from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Allstate from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. TheStreet raised Allstate from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Allstate from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Allstate from $164.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s 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 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 is accessible through this link. In other Allstate 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 transaction of $637,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,712,069.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $5,276,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 63,731 shares in the company, valued at $10,847,016.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Price Performance

Allstate stock opened at $169.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $100.57 and a one year high of $174.57. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $163.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $146.60.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $5.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $1.95. Allstate had a negative net margin of 0.33% and a positive return on equity of 2.67%. The firm had revenue of $14.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.36) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 13.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were 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 was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -296.77%.

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.