3,298 Shares in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Bought by Formula Growth Ltd.

Formula Growth Ltd. purchased a new stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,298 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $636,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its position in Allstate by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 742 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Allstate by 104.2% during the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 5,728 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 2,923 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Allstate during the third quarter worth $2,836,000. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Allstate by 5.3% during the third quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,776 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Allstate by 534.3% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 33,530 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,359,000 after purchasing an additional 28,244 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ALL. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Argus upgraded Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. One equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $219.27.

Allstate Price Performance

NYSE:ALL traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $195.25. 342,181 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,945,935. The firm has a market cap of $51.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. 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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $197.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.39. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, research analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

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

Allstate announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares of the company's stock, 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 at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.