Allstate Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:ALL)

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 2,219 put options on the company. This is an increase of 202% compared to the typical daily volume of 735 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ALL. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Allstate to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Allstate from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Allstate from $235.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Allstate in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Allstate from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.93.

Allstate Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:ALL traded down $0.35 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $209.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 408,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,625,825. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.73 billion, a PE ratio of 6.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.25. Allstate has a 12 month low of $176.00 and a 12 month high of $215.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $203.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $202.44.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The insurance provider reported $11.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.48 by $5.69. The business had revenue of $17.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.59 billion. Allstate had a return on equity of 35.42% and a net margin of 12.53%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Allstate will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Allstate’s payout ratio is 12.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Allstate news, insider Suren Gupta sold 21,871 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.21, for a total transaction of $4,706,857.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 100,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,660,025.66. This trade represents a 17.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,807 shares of company stock valued at $6,198,726. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Allstate

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Allstate by 3.1% during the second quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 23,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,745,000 after buying an additional 704 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC lifted its position in Allstate by 103.5% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 12,960 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after acquiring an additional 6,590 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in Allstate in the first quarter worth $22,405,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Allstate during the first quarter worth $301,000. Finally, McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 1,020.8% in the 2nd quarter. McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. now owns 34,666 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,979,000 after purchasing an additional 31,573 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.