United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund Makes New $868,000 Investment in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund bought a new stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $868,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ALL. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Allstate in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new stake in Allstate in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction of $7,480,226.06. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Allstate Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ALL opened at $208.14 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $193.43. The Allstate Co. has a twelve month low of $156.66 and a twelve month 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Allstate announced that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Allstate Company 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.