Swiss National Bank Cuts Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Swiss National Bank trimmed its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 746,000 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 37,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.28% of Allstate worth $143,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. United Bank purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 2.7% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,901 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,119,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate during the third quarter worth $284,000. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in Allstate by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $475,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Allstate by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 650,381 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $123,345,000 after buying an additional 12,162 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Allstate Stock Performance

NYSE:ALL opened at $202.00 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $53.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $191.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.21. The Allstate Co. has a twelve month low of $156.66 and a twelve month high of $209.88.

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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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, research analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 has approved a stock buyback program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ALL. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Allstate from $209.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Argus raised Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $217.94.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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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