State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Reduces Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury cut its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 22.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 95,004 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 27,179 shares during the quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury's holdings in Allstate were worth $18,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 5.2% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in 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 during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 58,600 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $11,297,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $98,065,000 after buying an additional 48,382 shares during the period. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in shares of Allstate by 33.3% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on ALL shares. StockNews.com cut Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Barclays decreased their price target on Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Argus raised shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised 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, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Allstate presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $219.27.

Allstate Stock Up 3.7 %

ALL opened at $193.82 on Wednesday. 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 cap of $51.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.41, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $156.66 and a one year high of $212.91. The business's fifty day moving average is $197.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.39.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 EPS 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%. Analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.54%.

Allstate announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This trade 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 corporate insiders.

Allstate Company 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.

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