Waverly Advisors LLC Acquires 11,194 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Waverly Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 397.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,014 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 11,194 shares during the quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC's holdings in Allstate were worth $2,702,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Allstate by 117.3% in the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $944,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Allstate by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 508,664 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $98,065,000 after acquiring an additional 48,382 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Allstate by 56.0% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 186,792 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $36,012,000 after acquiring an additional 67,032 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Allstate by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 40,579 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $7,823,000 after acquiring an additional 1,828 shares during the period. Finally, Keybank National Association OH raised its holdings in Allstate by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 344,875 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $66,489,000 after acquiring an additional 5,786 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on ALL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Allstate from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Allstate from $200.00 to $197.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Raymond James restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $250.00 price objective (up previously from $240.00) on shares of Allstate in a report on Monday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $225.20.

Allstate Price Performance

Shares of Allstate stock opened at $205.26 on Thursday. 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's 50-day simple moving average is $199.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.08. The Allstate Co. has a twelve month low of $156.66 and a twelve month high of $212.91. The firm has a market cap of $54.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.98 by ($0.45). Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. The business had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.41 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.13 earnings per share. Allstate's revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a positive change from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Allstate's payout ratio is 27.32%.

Allstate declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan 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 plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Company 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.

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