Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 3,096 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 97,270 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,096 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $18,753,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ALL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Allstate by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,291,783,000 after acquiring an additional 389,426 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,496,306 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,190,758,000 after purchasing an additional 126,922 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,228,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,178,164,000 after purchasing an additional 74,537 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $832,181,000 after buying an additional 1,685,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Allstate by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,834,172 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $353,610,000 after buying an additional 19,463 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction of $7,480,226.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Stock Performance

ALL opened at $206.46 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $54.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The Allstate Co. has a 1-year low of $156.66 and a 1-year high of $212.91. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $195.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $193.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted 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 declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Allstate currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.80.

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.