Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 421 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $59,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Allstate in the third quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 21.6% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 9,032 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Allstate by 6.5% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 29,311 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in Allstate by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 926 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Trust Co. increased its holdings in Allstate by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 1,940 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Allstate from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. HSBC upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $158.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Allstate from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Allstate from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $180.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.18.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ALL traded down $1.89 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $168.19. 1,723,598 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,681,339. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $166.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $44.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.13, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.51. The Allstate Co. has a 1 year low of $100.57 and a 1 year high of $177.37.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The insurance provider reported $5.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $1.02. Allstate had a return on equity of 14.44% and a net margin of 2.31%. The business had revenue of $15.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.30) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 14.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.24%.

Insider Transactions 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 stock was sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total value of $5,276,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 63,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,847,016.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total value of $637,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,712,069.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now 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. Company insiders own 1.80% 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.