Smith Moore & CO. Sells 136 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Smith Moore & CO. lessened its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,367 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 136 shares during the quarter. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $456,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,291,783,000 after purchasing an additional 389,426 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Allstate by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,419,728 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,236,060,000 after purchasing an additional 191,147 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Allstate by 64.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $832,181,000 after buying an additional 1,685,694 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Allstate by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,834,172 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $353,610,000 after buying an additional 19,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter worth about $344,354,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ALL shares. Argus raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Allstate from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays reduced their target price on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.80.

Allstate Trading Down 9.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ALL opened at $186.74 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $197.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.35. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $156.66 and a one year high of $212.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.49 billion, a PE ratio of 10.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.