Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Grows Stock Holdings in The Allstate Corporation $ALL

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its position in The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL) by 70.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,095 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,175 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Allstate were worth $5,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Apella Capital LLC raised its holdings in Allstate by 8.4% during the first quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 5,102 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,103,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 1,828.5% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 163,074 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,812,000 after acquiring an additional 154,618 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 19.2% in the first quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,588 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. Cache Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate during the first quarter worth about $69,000. Finally, Krilogy Financial LLC raised its stake in Allstate by 125.4% during the 1st quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 5,138 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 2,859 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on ALL. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of Allstate in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Allstate from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $231.00 price objective on shares of Allstate in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Allstate from $207.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Allstate from $221.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $240.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Mario Rizzo sold 18,578 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.80, for a total value of $4,064,866.40. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 82,227 shares in the company, valued at $17,991,267.60. The trade was a 18.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Q. Prindiville sold 1,550 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.27, for a total value of $335,218.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,959,968.66. This represents a 5.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 22,353 shares of company stock valued at $4,851,560 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.55% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of ALL opened at $233.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.18. The Allstate Corporation has a 1 year low of $188.08 and a 1 year high of $236.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $216.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $209.68.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The insurance provider reported $10.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.31 by $3.34. Allstate had a net margin of 17.81% and a return on equity of 42.66%. The firm had revenue of $16.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.53 earnings per share. Allstate’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Allstate Corporation will post 29.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.53%.

About Allstate

Allstate Corporation is a publicly traded insurance company headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, and is one of the largest personal lines property and casualty insurers in the United States. Founded in 1931 as a subsidiary of Sears, Roebuck and Co, Allstate has grown into a diversified insurer that serves millions of consumers and businesses through a mix of distribution channels and product offerings.

The company underwrites a broad range of insurance products, with primary emphasis on auto and homeowners coverage.