The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Shares Acquired by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 42.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 221,129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 66,177 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 0.08% of Allstate worth $42,631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter worth approximately $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in Allstate by 64.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $832,181,000 after buying an additional 1,685,694 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in Allstate by 15,062.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $215,757,000 after buying an additional 1,111,748 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 period. Finally, National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 69.7% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 708,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $136,514,000 after acquiring an additional 290,858 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on ALL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Stock Down 1.4 %

ALL opened at $206.46 on Monday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $195.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $193.91. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $156.66 and a 52 week high of $212.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Allstate’s payout ratio is 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors 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.