DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Sells 36,920 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main reduced its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 21.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 136,302 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 36,920 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main owned 0.05% of Allstate worth $26,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ALL. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Allstate by 157.9% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 4,035,629 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Allstate by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $832,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685,694 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Allstate by 15,062.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $215,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP raised its stake in Allstate by 1,303.3% during the fourth quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 824,838 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $159,021,000 after acquiring an additional 766,058 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Allstate from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays lowered their price target on Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Allstate from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Allstate from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $225.20.

Allstate Stock Performance

NYSE ALL traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $202.56. 1,077,460 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,613,275. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $199.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.29. The Allstate Co. has a 1 year low of $156.66 and a 1 year high of $212.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

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

Allstate Increases Dividend

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

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to reacquire up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.