First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 184,491 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 47.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 575,608 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 184,491 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.22% of Allstate worth $110,971,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ALL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth about $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its position 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 in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Allstate by 15,062.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $215,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,748 shares during the last quarter. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth $143,165,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 worth $6,291,783,000 after purchasing an additional 389,426 shares during the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Allstate Price Performance

NYSE ALL traded down $1.84 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $193.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,156,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,614,302. The Allstate Co. has a 1 year low of $156.66 and a 1 year high of $212.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market capitalization of $51.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $197.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.56.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last issued its 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. Allstate's payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on ALL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $219.27.

Allstate 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.