1,520,007 Shares in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Purchased by Norges Bank

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,520,007 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $212,771,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Allstate by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 4,130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Allstate by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,862 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Allstate by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $864,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in Allstate by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 5,384 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $754,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC boosted its stake in Allstate by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 3,955 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $554,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Allstate from $164.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Allstate from $166.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. HSBC upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $158.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.59.

Allstate Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALL opened at $166.18 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $168.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.68, a PEG ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.51. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $100.57 and a one year high of $177.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The insurance provider reported $5.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $1.02. The firm had revenue of $15.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.76 billion. Allstate had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 14.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.30) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 14.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.24%.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In related news, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $5,276,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 63,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,847,016.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Allstate news, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total transaction of $637,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,712,069.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $5,276,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 63,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,847,016.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.