CX Institutional Trims Stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

CX Institutional reduced its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 83.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,991 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 25,838 shares during the quarter. CX Institutional's holdings in Allstate were worth $1,034,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALL. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Allstate during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Allstate Stock Performance

NYSE:ALL traded down $1.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $198.61. 1,330,201 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,616,727. 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $200.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.01. The firm has a market cap of $52.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.35. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $156.66 and a one year high of $213.18.

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

Allstate Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Allstate's payout ratio is 27.32%.

Allstate declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Allstate from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Raymond James reissued a "strong-buy" rating and set a $250.00 target price (up from $240.00) on shares of Allstate in a report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. William Blair started coverage on shares of Allstate in a research report on Friday, June 6th. They set a "sector outperform" rating for the company. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Allstate has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $225.20.

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.