EP Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 316,713 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 7,264 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC owned about 0.12% of Allstate worth $61,059,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Activity at Allstate

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate 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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALL has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Allstate from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Allstate from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays cut their target price on Allstate from $183.00 to $172.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Allstate from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Allstate has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $225.20.

Allstate Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of ALL stock traded down $0.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $202.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 707,236 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,613,696. The Allstate Co. has a 1-year low of $156.66 and a 1-year high of $212.91. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $199.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $195.15. The company has a market capitalization of $53.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

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

Allstate declared that its board has initiated 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Allstate's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Allstate's payout ratio is currently 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.