California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,213,338 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 7,800 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.46% of Allstate worth $233,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 5.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 577,934 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $109,605,000 after acquiring an additional 28,584 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 117.3% in 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. lifted its position in shares of Allstate by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 58,600 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $11,297,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 508,664 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $98,065,000 after purchasing an additional 48,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its holdings in Allstate by 33.3% during the fourth 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 period. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus upgraded Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $219.80.

Allstate Stock Performance

ALL traded down $18.58 on Friday, reaching $186.74. 3,351,598 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,588,188. 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 company's 50-day moving average price is $197.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $194.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.49 billion, a PE ratio of 10.99, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The Allstate Co. has a fifty-two week low of $156.66 and a fifty-two week high of $212.91.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 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, sell-side analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

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

Allstate declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.