Polar Capital Holdings Plc Has $13.98 Million Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 72,498 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,458 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc’s holdings in Allstate were worth $13,977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Allstate by 157.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,591,138 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,270,705,000 after purchasing an additional 4,035,629 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Allstate by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $832,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685,694 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Allstate by 15,062.3% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $215,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP grew its holdings in Allstate by 1,303.3% during the fourth quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 824,838 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $159,021,000 after purchasing an additional 766,058 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price target on Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target (up previously from $240.00) on shares of Allstate in a report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Allstate from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Allstate from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.20.

Allstate Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of ALL stock opened at $205.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $54.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $156.66 and a one year high of $212.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $199.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $195.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.98 by ($0.45). The firm 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 for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.13 earnings per share. Analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $1.00 dividend. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.32%.

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

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.