Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases 230 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 19.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,396 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. United Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $209,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Allstate by 29.9% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 40,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,694,000 after buying an additional 9,336 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Allstate by 49.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,247 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $236,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in Allstate by 250.4% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 4,121 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $782,000 after acquiring an additional 2,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 269,708 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $51,150,000 after acquiring an additional 66,483 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ALL. Argus upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. One investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Allstate currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Allstate Price Performance

Shares of ALL opened at $209.16 on Thursday. 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 price is $195.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.54. The Allstate Co. has a 1-year low of $156.66 and a 1-year high of $212.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.43 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is 23.54%.

Allstate announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.