Heritage Trust Co Takes Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Heritage Trust Co acquired a new position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,532 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ALL. Prepared Retirement Institute LLC grew its holdings in shares of Allstate by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Prepared Retirement Institute LLC now owns 3,504 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $676,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Harbert Fund Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $964,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Allstate by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 657 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Allstate by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 118,609 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $22,867,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Allstate by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 9,649 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,859,000 after buying an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Allstate presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $219.27.

Allstate Price Performance

Shares of Allstate stock traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $194.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,905,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,625,702. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $197.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.31. 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 stock has a market cap of $51.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $156.66 and a one year 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 earnings per share 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, analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. This is a positive change from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Allstate's payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its board has initiated a share 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 buy up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the business'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 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 $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.

Allstate 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.