Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New $504,000 Investment in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $504,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 4,130 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $578,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC raised its stake in Allstate by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.5% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Allstate from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Allstate from $155.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Allstate from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Allstate from $171.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

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

Allstate Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALL traded up $3.85 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $172.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,367,571 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,694,765. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $163.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.03. The company has a market cap of $45.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -139.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $100.57 and a one year high of $174.57.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $5.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $1.95. The firm had revenue of $14.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.69 billion. Allstate had a negative net margin of 0.33% and a positive return on equity of 2.67%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.36) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 13.5 EPS for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. Allstate’s payout ratio is -296.77%.

Allstate 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.