Sapient Capital LLC Makes New Investment in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,974 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $701,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 4,130 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,862 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $541,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $864,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 5,384 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $754,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 516 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Allstate Price Performance

NYSE:ALL traded down $1.00 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $168.18. 1,668,295 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,508,644. The firm's 50-day moving average is $166.06 and its 200-day moving average is $151.27. The stock has a market cap of $44.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The Allstate Co. has a 1-year low of $100.57 and a 1-year high of $177.37.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The insurance provider reported $5.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.11 by $1.02. The firm had revenue of $15.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.76 billion. Allstate had a return on equity of 14.44% and a net margin of 2.31%. Allstate's quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.30) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 14.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This is a positive change from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Allstate's dividend payout ratio is currently 81.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ALL. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Allstate from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. TheStreet raised Allstate from a "c+" rating to a "b" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. HSBC raised Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $158.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Allstate from $185.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Allstate from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $174.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Allstate 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 transaction of $637,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,712,069.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Allstate 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 transaction of $637,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,712,069.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total value of $5,276,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 63,731 shares in the company, valued at $10,847,016.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.80% 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.