KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Takes $19.37 Million Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 100,068 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $19,370,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Allstate by 5.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 577,934 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,605,000 after buying an additional 28,584 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Allstate by 117.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $944,000 after buying an additional 2,643 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its position in Allstate by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 58,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $11,297,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Allstate by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 508,664 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $98,065,000 after buying an additional 48,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its position in Allstate by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 401,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,413,000 after buying an additional 100,311 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays reduced their target price on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Allstate from $206.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.94.

Allstate Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of ALL opened at $206.60 on Monday. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $156.66 and a 52 week high of $212.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $193.75 and a 200-day moving average of $193.12.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 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 yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.54%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.