Lazard Asset Management LLC Sells 667 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Lazard Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,083 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 667 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $4,449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,291,783,000 after purchasing an additional 389,426 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Allstate by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,334,926 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,799,681,000 after buying an additional 218,771 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 157.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,591,138 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,270,705,000 after buying an additional 4,035,629 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,419,728 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,236,060,000 after buying an additional 191,147 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 64.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $832,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,685,694 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of ALL stock opened at $205.10 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $199.34 and a 200 day moving average of $195.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The Allstate Co. has a 1 year low of $156.66 and a 1 year high of $212.91.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.98 by ($0.45). Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. The firm had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.41 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is 27.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Allstate from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Allstate from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Argus raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.20.

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.