1,124 Shares in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Bought by ZEGA Investments LLC

ZEGA Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ALL. Apella Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $623,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 4.9% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Allstate Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of Allstate stock opened at $206.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The Allstate Co. has a 1 year low of $156.66 and a 1 year high of $212.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $193.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $193.07. The stock has a market cap of $54.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Allstate presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.94.

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.