Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Buys 53,500 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 21.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 297,419 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 53,500 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.11% of Allstate worth $57,339,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Allstate by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,291,783,000 after acquiring an additional 389,426 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Allstate by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,334,926 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,799,681,000 after acquiring an additional 218,771 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 grew its position in shares of Allstate by 64.1% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Allstate by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,681,306 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $709,719,000 after acquiring an additional 106,730 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ALL. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $219.27.

Allstate Price Performance

Shares of Allstate stock traded up $1.51 on Tuesday, reaching $196.92. 321,629 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,610,316. The firm's 50 day moving average is $197.70 and its 200-day moving average is $194.74. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $156.66 and a one year high of $212.91. 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 firm has a market cap of $52.21 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $1.00 dividend. This is a boost from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Allstate's dividend payout ratio is 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.