AMF Tjanstepension AB Has $28.75 Million Stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 89.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 148,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 70,266 shares during the quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB owned approximately 0.06% of Allstate worth $28,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Allstate by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,496,306 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,190,758,000 after buying an additional 126,922 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Allstate by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,228,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,178,164,000 after buying an additional 74,537 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Allstate by 15,062.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Allstate by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 933,352 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $177,010,000 after buying an additional 98,179 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on ALL. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $231.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. 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 report on Monday, March 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Allstate from $209.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Allstate has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.94.

Allstate Stock Performance

NYSE ALL opened at $200.87 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $190.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $191.65. The Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $155.59 and a 52-week high of $209.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.52.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s payout ratio is 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.