Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Increases Stock Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,849 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $934,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. SageView Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Allstate in the 4th quarter worth $456,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 92,753 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,984,000 after buying an additional 4,987 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth about $5,927,000. BDF Gestion bought a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,051,000. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth about $52,042,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Allstate in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Allstate from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Allstate in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $175.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $191.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.76.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Suren Gupta sold 45,775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.28, for a total transaction of $8,114,992.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,930 shares in the company, valued at $15,942,790.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Allstate news, insider Suren Gupta sold 45,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.28, for a total value of $8,114,992.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,930 shares in the company, valued at $15,942,790.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Thomas J. Wilson sold 90,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.34, for a total transaction of $16,140,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 88,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,880,915.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 201,938 shares of company stock worth $36,122,740. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALL opened at $188.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $49.72 billion, a PE ratio of 41.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.04. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $108.16 and a one year high of $191.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The insurance provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $1.28. Allstate had a net margin of 5.03% and a return on equity of 24.05%. The firm had revenue of $15.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($4.42) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 15.16 EPS for the current year.

Allstate Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.24%.

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.