The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Shares Sold by Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. decreased its position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 20.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 734,558 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 188,467 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $141,783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALL. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new position in Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on ALL. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Allstate from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Allstate from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price (up previously from $240.00) on shares of Allstate in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.73.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Allstate Stock Up 1.1 %

Allstate stock opened at $202.42 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $53.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.91, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.36. The Allstate Co. has a fifty-two week low of $156.66 and a fifty-two week high of $212.91. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $198.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.95.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.98 by ($0.45). The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.41 billion. Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. Allstate’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is 27.32%.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to purchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.