Morgan Stanley Reaffirms Equal Weight Rating for Allstate (NYSE:ALL)

Allstate (NYSE:ALL)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $215.00 target price on the insurance provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $245.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 2.85% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Allstate from $235.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Evercore ISI set a $233.00 target price on Allstate and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Allstate from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Mizuho started coverage on Allstate in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $254.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Allstate from $202.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Allstate presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.93.

Allstate Trading Down 0.2%

ALL opened at $209.04 on Tuesday. Allstate has a 12-month low of $176.00 and a 12-month high of $215.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.70 billion, a PE ratio of 6.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $203.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $202.48.

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

Insider Activity at Allstate

In related news, insider Suren Gupta sold 21,871 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.21, for a total value of $4,706,857.91. Following the sale, the insider 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 28,807 shares of company stock worth $6,198,726 in the last three months. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Allstate by 3.1% during the second quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 23,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,745,000 after buying an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC raised its holdings in Allstate by 103.5% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 1st quarter worth approximately $22,405,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate during the 1st quarter worth approximately $301,000. Finally, McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1,020.8% during 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. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

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.