JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 177,081 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 30.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 755,015 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 177,081 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.29% of Allstate worth $145,560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ALL. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Allstate in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Remove Ads

Allstate Stock Performance

NYSE ALL traded down $18.58 on Friday, reaching $186.74. The stock had a trading volume of 3,351,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,590,545. 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 company has a market cap of $49.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $197.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.38. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 research analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. This is a positive change from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Argus raised Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.