ProShare Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 65,794 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 5,806 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Allstate were worth $12,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Allstate in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in Allstate in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Allstate in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Allstate presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $225.20.

Allstate Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE ALL traded down $3.17 on Thursday, hitting $202.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 460,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,610,080. The firm has a market cap of $53.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.91, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $199.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.08. The Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $156.66 and a 52-week high of $212.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

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

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 issued 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 1.98%. Allstate's dividend payout ratio is 27.32%.

Allstate announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.