Short Interest in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Decreases By 11.3%

The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) saw a significant decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,960,000 shares, a decrease of 11.3% from the October 15th total of 2,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,500,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Allstate

In other news, CEO Thomas J. Wilson sold 90,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.34, for a total value of $16,140,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 88,552 shares in the company, valued at $15,880,915.68. This represents a 50.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John E. Dugenske sold 36,367 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.38, for a total value of $6,959,916.46. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,236,922.32. This represents a 57.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BDF Gestion purchased a new stake in Allstate during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,051,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Allstate in the second quarter worth about $476,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Allstate by 351.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 65,221 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $11,284,000 after purchasing an additional 50,780 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Allstate by 505.3% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 7,923 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,265,000 after purchasing an additional 6,614 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Allstate by 97.5% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 271,464 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,966,000 after acquiring an additional 134,028 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Allstate Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Allstate stock traded down $2.18 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $197.79. The stock had a trading volume of 20,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,533,651. Allstate has a 12 month low of $132.74 and a 12 month high of $201.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market cap of $52.37 billion, a PE ratio of 12.95, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.02.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $1.71. The company had revenue of $16.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.57 billion. Allstate had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 26.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Allstate will post 16.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.92 dividend. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ALL shares. Raymond James raised their target price on Allstate from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Allstate from $205.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Allstate in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Allstate from $205.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Allstate from $220.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Allstate has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.19.

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.