Guggenheim Capital LLC Acquires 7,832 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 23.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,612 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 7,832 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC's holdings in Allstate were worth $8,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Allstate during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate 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 transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ALL. 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. Argus raised Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $219.27.

Allstate Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE ALL traded up $5.44 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $192.39. 183,927 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,614,066. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.36. The business's fifty day moving average is $197.22 and its 200 day moving average is $194.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The Allstate Co. has a fifty-two week low of $156.66 and a fifty-two week high of $212.91.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last released 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%. Equities research analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. 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. Allstate's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.54%.

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.