Allstate (NYSE:ALL) Receives “Strong-Buy” Rating from Raymond James

Raymond James reiterated their strong-buy rating on shares of Allstate (NYSE:ALL) in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. Raymond James currently has a $250.00 price target on the insurance provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $240.00.

ALL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Allstate presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.60.

Allstate Price Performance

Shares of ALL stock opened at $200.38 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $53.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.79, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $198.73 and its 200 day moving average is $194.90. Allstate has a twelve month low of $156.66 and a twelve month high of $212.91.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.98 by ($0.45). The business had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.41 billion. Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.13 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Allstate will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s payout ratio is 27.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $7,480,226.06. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Allstate

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALL. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Allstate by 5.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 136,632 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $26,032,000 after buying an additional 6,616 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 313,754 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $59,503,000 after acquiring an additional 5,980 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Allstate by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 54,086 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,397,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the period. Boltwood Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 7,710 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,486,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in Allstate in the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

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.