Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Buys 4,998 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 25.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,949 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,998 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $3,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Allstate by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,034 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,405,000 after acquiring an additional 987 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Allstate by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 484,435 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $67,811,000 after acquiring an additional 10,470 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at $444,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth $1,084,000. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Allstate Trading Up 0.2 %

Allstate stock opened at $191.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.16, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.48. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $109.01 and a 52 week high of $193.19.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The insurance provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $1.28. Allstate had a return on equity of 24.05% and a net margin of 5.03%. The business had revenue of $15.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($4.42) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 15.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th 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 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Allstate news, insider Suren Gupta sold 45,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.28, for a total transaction of $8,114,992.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,930 shares in the company, valued at $15,942,790.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Elizabeth Brady sold 49,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.09, for a total transaction of $8,861,552.29. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,431,901.67. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Suren Gupta sold 45,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.28, for a total transaction of $8,114,992.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,942,790.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 201,938 shares of company stock valued at $36,122,740. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Allstate from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $193.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Allstate from $213.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Allstate from $177.00 to $175.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Allstate from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.76.

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.