Farringdon Capital Ltd. Purchases New Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. bought a new position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,206 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $425,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,291,783,000 after buying an additional 389,426 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,419,728 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,236,060,000 after acquiring an additional 191,147 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $832,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,685,694 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,681,306 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $709,719,000 after purchasing an additional 106,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,834,172 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $353,610,000 after purchasing an additional 19,463 shares during the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total value of $7,480,226.06. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of ALL remained flat at $193.90 on Wednesday. The stock had a trading volume of 373,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,613,948. 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 52 week low of $156.66 and a 52 week high of $212.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The company's 50-day moving average price is $197.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.39.

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

Allstate announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate's dividend payout ratio is 23.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $219.27.

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.