Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases 7,267 Shares of The Allstate Corporation $ALL

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL) by 4.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 158,856 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,267 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Allstate were worth $34,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ALL. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC increased its position in Allstate by 1.5% in the second quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC now owns 3,426 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $690,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 4,693 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Allstate by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,189 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. L2 Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 4.8% during the second quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC now owns 1,168 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Allstate by 3.2% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,739 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on ALL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Allstate from $260.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research lowered Allstate from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Allstate from $254.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $215.00 target price (down previously from $245.00) on shares of Allstate in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Allstate in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Allstate has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.35.

Allstate Stock Up 1.7%

NYSE:ALL opened at $204.54 on Thursday. The Allstate Corporation has a 1 year low of $176.00 and a 1 year high of $216.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $203.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $203.96. The stock has a market cap of $53.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.36, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The insurance provider reported $14.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.72 by $5.59. Allstate had a return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 15.19%.The company had revenue of $14.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.67 earnings per share. Allstate’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Allstate Corporation will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Allstate’s payout ratio is presently 10.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In other news, insider Suren Gupta sold 21,871 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.21, for a total transaction of $4,706,857.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 100,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,660,025.66. This represents a 17.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 48,400 shares of company stock valued at $10,313,256 in the last ninety days. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Allstate Company Profile

Allstate Corporation is a publicly traded insurance company headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, and is one of the largest personal lines property and casualty insurers in the United States. Founded in 1931 as a subsidiary of Sears, Roebuck and Co, Allstate has grown into a diversified insurer that serves millions of consumers and businesses through a mix of distribution channels and product offerings.

The company underwrites a broad range of insurance products, with primary emphasis on auto and homeowners coverage.