United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC cut its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,685 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,061 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $1,482,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in Allstate by 64.1% during the fourth 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 stake in Allstate by 15,062.3% during the fourth 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 in the 4th quarter valued at about $143,165,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.2% in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of Allstate stock opened at $194.61 on Friday. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $156.66 and a one year high of $212.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $197.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.34. 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 market cap of $51.58 billion, a PE ratio of 11.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.36.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders 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 2.06%. This is an increase from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s payout ratio is 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ALL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Argus raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.27.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total value 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 $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.