Alliancebernstein L.P. Reduces Stock Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 322,738 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 15,859 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.12% of Allstate worth $62,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Peoples Bank KS purchased a new position in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ALL. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Argus raised shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $220.00.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Allstate 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 value of $7,480,226.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Allstate Stock Performance

Allstate stock traded down $1.45 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $191.55. 369,165 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,610,401. The Allstate Co. has a 12-month low of $156.66 and a 12-month high of $212.91. The business's 50-day moving average is $196.81 and its 200-day moving average is $194.17. 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 $50.77 billion, a PE ratio of 11.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Allstate's payout ratio is 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign 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.