NorthRock Partners LLC Buys 4,410 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

NorthRock Partners LLC boosted its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 193.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,690 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,410 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC's holdings in Allstate were worth $1,290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Allstate by 117.3% in the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $944,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its position in Allstate by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 58,600 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $11,297,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares during the last quarter. 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 valued at $98,065,000 after buying an additional 48,382 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in Allstate by 33.3% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 401,542 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $77,413,000 after buying an additional 100,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 valued at $36,012,000 after buying an additional 67,032 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target (up previously from $240.00) on shares of Allstate in a research note on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Allstate from $200.00 to $197.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Argus upgraded Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $225.20.

Allstate Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE ALL opened at $200.70 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $53.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $156.66 and a 52 week high of $212.91. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $199.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

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

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Allstate's payout ratio is currently 27.32%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.