Stifel Financial Corp Reduces Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Stifel Financial Corp lowered its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 193,517 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 30,986 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned 0.07% of Allstate worth $37,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ALL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Allstate by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $832,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685,694 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Allstate by 15,062.3% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $215,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,748 shares during the last quarter. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at about $143,165,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,291,783,000 after acquiring an additional 389,426 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Allstate Stock Performance

NYSE:ALL traded down $1.84 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $193.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,156,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,615,648. The firm has a market cap of $51.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The Allstate Co. has a fifty-two week low of $156.66 and a fifty-two week high of $212.91. The firm's 50 day moving average is $197.62 and its 200-day moving average is $194.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This is a boost from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. Allstate's payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on ALL. Barclays dropped their price target on Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Argus raised shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $219.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the firm'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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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.