Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $19.78 Million Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,584 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,747 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $19,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Allstate during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ALL shares. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Argus upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Allstate from $206.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total value of $7,480,226.06. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of ALL opened at $207.68 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $156.66 and a 52 week high of $209.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $191.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.36.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. Equities analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Allstate’s payout ratio is 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.