The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) Shares Sold by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP trimmed its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 225,618 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 55,522 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Allstate were worth $43,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. United Bank acquired a new position in Allstate in the 3rd quarter valued at about $209,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Allstate by 29.9% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 40,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,694,000 after buying an additional 9,336 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Allstate by 49.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,247 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Allstate by 32.7% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 269,708 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $51,150,000 after buying an additional 66,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Allstate by 61.5% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,584 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,473,000 after buying an additional 8,983 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of Allstate stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This trade represents a 68.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ALL. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Argus upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.94.

Allstate Price Performance

Allstate stock opened at $209.38 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $195.46 and a 200-day moving average of $193.65. The Allstate Co. has a 52-week low of $156.66 and a 52-week high of $212.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. As a group, analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to repurchase up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. 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 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.54%.

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.