The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Stock Holdings Decreased by Auxano Advisors LLC

Auxano Advisors LLC lessened its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,491 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $480,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 5.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 577,934 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,605,000 after buying an additional 28,584 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Allstate by 117.3% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $944,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew 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. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 33.3% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 401,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $77,413,000 after purchasing an additional 100,311 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Allstate by 38.0% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,067,000 after purchasing an additional 2,888 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Price Performance

NYSE ALL opened at $199.20 on Monday. The Allstate Co. has a 1 year low of $153.87 and a 1 year high of $209.88. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $190.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $52.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.52.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Allstate’s payout ratio is 21.66%.

Insider Activity

In related 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 owns 18,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ALL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $216.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI raised Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Allstate from $209.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.94.

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.