Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stock Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 19.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,047,515 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 488,426 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.77% of Allstate worth $394,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Allstate by 5.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 577,934 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $109,605,000 after buying an additional 28,584 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Allstate by 117.3% in the fourth 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. raised its stake in Allstate by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 58,600 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $11,297,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 33.3% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 401,542 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $77,413,000 after buying an additional 100,311 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Argus raised shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $219.27.

Allstate Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Allstate stock traded up $1.79 on Friday, hitting $192.58. 1,876,905 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,619,636. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $51.04 billion, a PE ratio of 11.33, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $196.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.22. The Allstate Co. has a 52 week low of $156.66 and a 52 week high of $212.91.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. This is a positive change from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate's payout ratio is currently 23.54%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

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.