Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Sells 6,882 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC trimmed its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 512,518 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 6,882 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned approximately 0.19% of Allstate worth $98,808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new stake in Allstate in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of Allstate during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Allstate in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on ALL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut Allstate from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Allstate presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $219.27.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ALL traded down $2.27 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $196.52. The company had a trading volume of 739,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,612,746. 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 Allstate Co. has a 1 year low of $156.66 and a 1 year high of $212.91. The company has a market capitalization of $52.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $197.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.77.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate's dividend payout ratio is 23.54%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

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.