National Bank of Canada FI Has $37.63 Million Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 38.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 195,159 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 54,396 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.07% of Allstate worth $37,625,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALL. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 33,437 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,334,000 after acquiring an additional 1,323 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 246,770 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $47,575,000 after buying an additional 110,138 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Allstate by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 63,568 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $12,255,000 after acquiring an additional 5,476 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Allstate by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 479,247 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $92,394,000 after acquiring an additional 2,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IPG Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at $1,319,000. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

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

Allstate Trading Down 4.4 %

NYSE ALL traded down $8.30 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $178.27. 1,387,241 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,943,029. The firm has a market cap of $47.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.47, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $197.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The Allstate Co. has a 1-year low of $156.66 and a 1-year high of $212.91.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This is an increase from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Allstate's payout ratio is 23.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ALL. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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 boosted their target price on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $219.80.

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.