Yahoo Finance Allstate (ALL) Rewards Shareholders With a 3.4% Dividend Hike
The Allstate Corporation ALL announced that its board of directors increased its cash dividend to 92 cents per share from 89 cents, reflecting a 3.4% jump from the prior payout. The dividend will be paid out on Apr 1, to shareholders on record as of Mar 4.
For more than a decade, it has consistently increased dividends on an annual basis. The latest dividend amount translates to $3.68 per share on an annualized basis. Considering the Feb 23 closing price of $159.13 per share, Allstate’s dividend yield currently stands at 2.3% compared with the industry average of 0.3%.
The company also announced quarterly preferred dividends of an aggregate value of $29.3 million on three series of preferred stocks. The preferred dividends will be paid out on Apr 15, to shareholders on record as of Mar 28.
Allstate intends to boost shareholder value with dividend hikes. It paid out dividends of $925 million in 2023. Although it made share buybacks of $330 million in 2023, it suspended buybacks in July 2023. It had $472 million left in the current authorization, which is expected to expire on Mar 31, 2024.
Its strong performance is expected to help its shareholder value boosting efforts. The company reported strong fourth-quarter earnings on the back of prudent rate increases, a rise in investment income, strong underwriting results, favorable weather conditions and a decline in expenses. It generated an operating cash flow of $4.2 billion in 2023.
Price Performance
The stock has jumped 51% in the past six months compared with the 18.2% rise of the industry.
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Zacks Rank Other Stocks to Consider
Allstate currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Some other top-ranked stocks in the broader Finance space are Ryan Specialty Holdings, Inc. RYAN, Chubb Limited CB and Brown & Brown, Inc. BRO, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Ryan Specialty’s 2024 full-year earnings indicates a 23.4% year-over-year increase. It beat earnings estimates in two of the past four quarters and met twice, with an average surprise of 5.1%. Also, the consensus mark for RYAN’s 2024 full-year revenues suggests 19.1% year-over-year growth.
The consensus mark for Chubb’s 2024 full-year earnings is pegged at $21.23 per share, which witnessed seven upward estimates in the past month against no movement in the opposite direction. It beat earnings estimates in each of the past four quarters, with an average surprise of 23.4%. Furthermore, the consensus estimate for CB’s 2024 full-year revenues suggests 7.4% year-over-year growth.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Brown & Brown’s 2024 full-year earnings is pegged at $3.20 per share, which indicates 13.9% year-over-year growth. The estimate remained stable over the past week. BRO beat earnings estimates in each of the past four quarters, with an average surprise of 11.2%.
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