Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Purchases New Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 19,313 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,703,000. Allstate accounts for about 1.0% of Lecap Asset Management Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Allstate during the third quarter worth about $25,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Cowa LLC purchased a new position in Allstate in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. RVW Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Allstate in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Allstate during the first quarter worth $33,000. 76.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ALL shares. HSBC upgraded Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $158.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. TheStreet raised Allstate from a "c+" rating to a "b" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley raised Allstate from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $117.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Allstate from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.59.

Allstate Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of ALL traded up $1.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $166.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,711,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,803,380. The Allstate Co. has a 12-month low of $100.57 and a 12-month high of $174.57. The firm has a market cap of $43.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -134.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $163.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.35.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $5.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.87 by $1.95. The company had revenue of $14.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.69 billion. Allstate had a positive return on equity of 2.67% and a negative net margin of 0.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.36) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 13.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. This is a positive change from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Allstate's dividend payout ratio is presently -296.77%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total value of $637,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 10,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,712,069.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total value of $637,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,712,069.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total value of $5,276,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 63,731 shares in the company, valued at $10,847,016.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

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.