Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Decreases Stock Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC trimmed its position in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 16.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 719,511 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 138,882 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC owned about 0.27% of Allstate worth $138,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 508,664 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $98,065,000 after buying an additional 48,382 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 56.0% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 186,792 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $36,012,000 after purchasing an additional 67,032 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 40,579 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $7,823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 344,875 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $66,489,000 after purchasing an additional 5,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,900 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $929,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on ALL. Argus raised Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Allstate from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Allstate from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Allstate from $200.00 to $197.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $225.20.

Allstate Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of ALL stock traded up $3.99 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $207.23. 1,094,671 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,610,224. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $199.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.48. The Allstate Co. has a 12-month low of $156.66 and a 12-month high of $212.91. The stock has a market cap of $54.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.20, a PEG 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.53 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.13 earnings per share. Allstate's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $1.00 dividend. 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 yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Allstate's payout ratio is presently 27.32%.

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.