Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 7,014 The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,014 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,352,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in Allstate by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $832,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,685,694 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Allstate by 15,062.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $215,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111,748 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Allstate by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,291,783,000 after purchasing an additional 389,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 69.7% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 708,098 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,514,000 after purchasing an additional 290,858 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Price Performance

NYSE:ALL opened at $192.58 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $51.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $196.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.22. The Allstate Co. has a 12 month low of $156.66 and a 12 month high of $212.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Argus raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.27.

Allstate 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.