BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Acquires Shares of 54,879 The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 54,879 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $10,580,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ALL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Allstate by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,641,033 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $316,375,000 after buying an additional 117,780 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Allstate by 47.2% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 575,608 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $110,971,000 after purchasing an additional 184,491 shares during the last quarter. Formula Growth Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter worth about $636,000. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 10,202 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,967,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the period. Finally, Allred Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Allstate by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Allred Capital Management LLC now owns 10,275 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,981,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction of $7,480,226.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Argus raised Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Allstate has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $219.27.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ALL traded up $1.14 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $195.04. 1,137,587 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,617,752. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $197.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $156.66 and a 52 week high of $212.91.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. Analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Allstate's payout ratio is 23.54%.

Allstate Company 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.