The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL cut its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 417,448 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,650 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Allstate were worth $80,480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ALL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 5.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 577,934 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $109,605,000 after purchasing an additional 28,584 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Allstate by 117.3% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $944,000 after purchasing an additional 2,643 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Allstate by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 58,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $11,297,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Allstate by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 508,664 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $98,065,000 after buying an additional 48,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its position in Allstate by 33.3% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 401,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $77,413,000 after buying an additional 100,311 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on ALL shares. Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays cut their price objective on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Argus upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Allstate currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.94.

Allstate Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ALL opened at $209.16 on Thursday. The Allstate Co. has a twelve month low of $156.66 and a twelve month high of $212.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market cap of $55.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $195.10 and a 200-day moving average of $193.54.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.54%.

Allstate announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction of $7,480,226.06. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.