Lafayette Investments Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,685 The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Lafayette Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,685 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Allstate by 11.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,270,589 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,595,266,000 after purchasing an additional 3,322,673 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 123.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,540,295 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $751,264,000 after buying an additional 3,064,105 shares during the period. Cowa LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth approximately $190,865,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 46.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,121,941 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $459,225,000 after buying an additional 1,311,095 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In other Allstate news, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $5,276,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 63,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,847,016.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Allstate news, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $5,276,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 63,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,847,016.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total value of $637,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,712,069.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Stock Up 1.9 %

ALL stock traded up $3.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $172.25. The stock had a trading volume of 573,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,670,340. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $163.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.60. The Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $100.57 and a 52-week high of $174.57.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $5.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $1.95. The company had revenue of $14.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.69 billion. Allstate had a positive return on equity of 2.67% and a negative net margin of 0.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.36) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 13.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.92 dividend. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -296.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Allstate from $172.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Allstate from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Allstate from $155.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Allstate from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.71.

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.