Moors & Cabot Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Moors & Cabot Inc. trimmed its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 18,749 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 202 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $3,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Natural Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $1,200,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in Allstate by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,532 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 2,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $428,000 after buying an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. Morton Community Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Morton Community Bank now owns 20,435 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,940,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 66,855 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,889,000 after buying an additional 11,606 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. The trade was 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. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $206.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $209.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Argus upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays lowered their target price on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.94.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of ALL stock opened at $202.25 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $53.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $191.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $192.10. The Allstate Co. has a 12-month low of $156.66 and a 12-month high of $209.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.