Royal Bank of Canada Sells 11,948 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 707,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 11,948 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Allstate were worth $136,456,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Allstate by 157.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,591,138 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,270,705,000 after purchasing an additional 4,035,629 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Allstate by 64.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $832,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,685,694 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in Allstate by 15,062.3% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $215,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP lifted its holdings in Allstate by 1,303.3% in the fourth quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 824,838 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $159,021,000 after acquiring an additional 766,058 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ALL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Allstate from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Allstate from $200.00 to $197.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective (up previously from $240.00) on shares of Allstate in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Argus raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.20.

Allstate Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of Allstate stock opened at $209.13 on Monday. The Allstate Co. has a fifty-two week low of $156.66 and a fifty-two week high of $212.91. 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 company has a market capitalization of $55.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a fifty day moving average of $199.48 and a 200 day moving average of $195.75.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.98 by ($0.45). Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. The business had revenue of $14.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.13 earnings per share. Allstate’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side 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 was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. Allstate’s payout ratio is currently 27.32%.

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

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.