The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Stock Holdings Lowered by Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank cut its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,853 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,072 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Allstate were worth $10,190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ALL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 5.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 577,934 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $109,605,000 after buying an additional 28,584 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Allstate by 117.3% in the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $944,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Allstate by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 58,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $11,297,000 after acquiring an additional 3,800 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Allstate by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 508,664 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $98,065,000 after acquiring an additional 48,382 shares during the period. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 401,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,413,000 after purchasing an additional 100,311 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total transaction of $7,480,226.06. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Allstate Stock Performance

Allstate stock opened at $194.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The company has a market cap of $51.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.45, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 simple moving average is $197.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.34.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS 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 outstanding 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 an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com cut Allstate from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.27.

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.