Columbia Trust Co 01012016 Boosts Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Columbia Trust Co 01012016 grew its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,567 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 828 shares during the quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016’s holdings in Allstate were worth $1,199,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Allstate in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,389,000. Markel Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Allstate by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 141,550 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $15,770,000 after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its position in shares of Allstate by 42.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 12,795 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 3,828 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Allstate by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,261,274 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $140,519,000 after purchasing an additional 104,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Allstate by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 540,851 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $60,257,000 after purchasing an additional 22,683 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of the company’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 directly owns 10,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,712,069.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the topic of several analyst reports. HSBC initiated coverage on Allstate in a research report on Thursday, December 28th. They set a “hold” rating and a $145.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Allstate from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. TheStreet raised Allstate from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Allstate from $164.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Allstate from $171.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $162.75.

Allstate Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE ALL traded up $1.83 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $170.80. 1,704,566 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,778,182. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $44.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -137.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.51. The Allstate Co. has a 1 year low of $100.57 and a 1 year high of $171.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $158.75 and a 200 day moving average of $139.72.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $5.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $1.95. The firm had revenue of $14.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.69 billion. Allstate had a positive return on equity of 2.67% and a negative net margin of 0.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.36) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 13.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. 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 dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 1st. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is -296.77%.

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.