The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Shares Sold by Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC lowered its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,275 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 1,356 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC's holdings in Allstate were worth $1,595,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Allstate during the fourth quarter worth $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Allstate by 64.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,316,516 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $832,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685,694 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 15,062.3% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,119,129 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $215,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,748 shares during the period. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. acquired a new position in Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $143,165,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,635,424 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,291,783,000 after buying an additional 389,426 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company's stock.

Allstate Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALL traded up $2.24 on Wednesday, reaching $204.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 233,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,612,113. The company has a market cap of $54.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.03, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $156.66 and a 52-week high of $212.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $198.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.95.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This is an increase from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Allstate's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.32%.

Allstate announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 purchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ALL. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (up previously from $240.00) on shares of Allstate in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Allstate from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Allstate from $240.00 to $228.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Allstate from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research 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.com, Allstate presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $224.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,115 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,378,990.95. The trade was a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.