Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 16.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 719,511 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 138,882 shares during the quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC owned 0.27% of Allstate worth $138,715,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Allstate in the third quarter worth $26,000. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Stock Down 1.4 %

ALL stock opened at $206.46 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $54.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $195.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $193.85. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Allstate’s payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Insider Transactions at Allstate

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 stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction of $7,480,226.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on ALL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Argus raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.80.

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.