Ellsworth Advisors LLC Takes $4.31 Million Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 30,805 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,312,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. acquired a new position in Allstate in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Cowa LLC acquired a new position in Allstate in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Allstate in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Allstate in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Allstate news, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $5,276,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 63,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,847,016.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Allstate news, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $5,276,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 63,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,847,016.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total transaction of $637,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 10,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,712,069.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALL has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $171.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Allstate from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $117.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Allstate from $155.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Allstate from $164.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.56.

Allstate Trading Up 1.9 %

ALL traded up $3.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $173.01. 1,735,780 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,138,279. The Allstate Co. has a twelve month low of $100.57 and a twelve month high of $173.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $159.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $140.38.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $5.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $1.95. Allstate had a negative net margin of 0.33% and a positive return on equity of 2.67%. The business had revenue of $14.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.36) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 13.25 EPS for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 1st. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Allstate’s payout ratio is presently -296.77%.

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.