Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Invests $18 Million in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 93,285 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $17,996,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALL. Apella Capital LLC raised its position 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 worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA raised its holdings in Allstate by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 12,135 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,340,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Allstate by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $571,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Allstate by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Allstate Stock Down 9.1 %

Allstate stock opened at $186.74 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $197.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $194.35. The company has a market cap of $49.49 billion, a PE ratio of 10.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. 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.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Allstate’s payout ratio is 23.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the business’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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut Allstate from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.80.

Allstate 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.