Cerity Partners LLC Grows Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 25.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,737 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,188 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Allstate were worth $9,742,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Allstate by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 577,934 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $109,605,000 after buying an additional 28,584 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 117.3% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $944,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its position in Allstate by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 58,600 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $11,297,000 after acquiring an additional 3,800 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in Allstate by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 508,664 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $98,065,000 after purchasing an additional 48,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in Allstate by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 401,542 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $77,413,000 after purchasing an additional 100,311 shares during the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Allstate currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $219.27.

Insider Activity

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction 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 owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Allstate Stock Up 1.6 %

ALL stock traded up $3.04 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $197.58. The stock had a trading volume of 534,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,980,140. The business has a 50-day moving average of $196.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.27. 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 cap of $52.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63, 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 released 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is an increase from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Allstate's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.