Allstate (NYSE:ALL) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Allstate (NYSE:ALL) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $177.00 price objective on the insurance provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $142.00.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Allstate from $197.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an outperform rating and set a $194.00 target price on shares of Allstate in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Allstate from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $213.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $191.25.

Allstate Stock Performance

NYSE:ALL opened at $180.95 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.76 billion, a PE ratio of 39.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $165.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $165.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Allstate has a 12 month low of $104.29 and a 12 month high of $181.34.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The insurance provider reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $1.28. The firm had revenue of $15.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.04 billion. Allstate had a return on equity of 24.05% and a net margin of 5.03%. Allstate’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($4.42) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Allstate will post 13.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.24%.

Insider Transactions at Allstate

In other 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,942,790.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Allstate

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Allstate by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,112,468 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $884,508,000 after acquiring an additional 90,390 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Allstate in the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,771,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Allstate by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,437,688 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $229,545,000 after acquiring an additional 47,038 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Allstate by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,007,953 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $160,948,000 after acquiring an additional 31,789 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 818,489 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $130,680,000 after purchasing an additional 8,454 shares during 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.