Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC trimmed its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 16.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,077 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 8,987 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $9,076,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AXQ Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 4,997 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $963,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Allstate by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,380 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $844,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Allstate by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 25,097 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,838,000 after purchasing an additional 7,975 shares during the last quarter. ZEGA Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter worth $209,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter worth $272,000. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.94.

Allstate Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of ALL stock opened at $206.60 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $193.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $193.07. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $54.76 billion, a PE ratio of 12.16, a P/E/G 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) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. Equities analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.54%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is 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.