Mariner LLC Acquires 4,890 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Mariner LLC grew its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,371 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,890 shares during the period. Mariner LLC's holdings in Allstate were worth $12,796,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,291,783,000 after buying an additional 389,426 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Allstate by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,419,728 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,236,060,000 after acquiring an additional 191,147 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $832,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,685,694 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,681,306 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $709,719,000 after purchasing an additional 106,730 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,834,172 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $353,610,000 after purchasing an additional 19,463 shares during the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

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

Allstate Stock Down 4.0 %

Allstate stock traded down $7.71 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $186.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,296,091 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,619,643. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $197.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.42. The company has a market capitalization of $49.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.00, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. 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 12 month low of $156.66 and a 12 month 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is 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 2.14%. 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ALL. Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $219.27.

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.