Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Buys 1,228 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 29.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,349 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,228 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.'s holdings in Allstate were worth $1,031,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. DnB Asset Management AS boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 86.4% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 94,907 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $18,297,000 after acquiring an additional 44,004 shares during the last quarter. Alerus Financial NA bought a new stake in Allstate in the 4th quarter worth approximately $883,000. Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Allstate by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,754 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,302,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH bought a new position in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at $481,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 42.7% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 221,129 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $42,631,000 after buying an additional 66,177 shares during the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction of $7,480,226.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ALL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Argus raised shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $219.80.

Allstate Price Performance

ALL stock traded down $18.58 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $186.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,351,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,588,188. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The Allstate Co. has a 12 month low of $156.66 and a 12 month high of $212.91. The company has a 50 day moving average of $197.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.33.

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

Allstate declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. Allstate's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.