Crestline Management LP Grows Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Crestline Management LP boosted its position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 205.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,697 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,870 shares during the quarter. Crestline Management LP's holdings in Allstate were worth $2,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Allstate from $200.00 to $197.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Allstate from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price target (up from $240.00) on shares of Allstate in a research note on Monday, May 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $225.20.

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Allstate Stock Performance

NYSE ALL traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $202.57. 707,236 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,616,559. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $53.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The Allstate Co. has a 12-month low of $156.66 and a 12-month high of $212.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $199.06 and a 200 day moving average of $195.17.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Allstate's dividend payout ratio is 27.32%.

Allstate announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate 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.