Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,656 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 504 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $3,211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Apella Capital LLC boosted its position in Allstate by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Allstate by 4.9% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Allstate by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in Allstate by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Allstate by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on ALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Argus raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Allstate from $209.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.94.

Allstate Price Performance

ALL stock opened at $199.00 on Tuesday. The Allstate Co. has a 1 year low of $156.45 and a 1 year high of $209.88. The company has a market cap of $52.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $190.89 and a 200 day moving average of $191.95. 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) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, sell-side analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 EPS for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. 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 yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Allstate announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback 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 buy up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Allstate news, CFO Jesse E. Merten sold 40,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.53, for a total value of $7,480,226.06. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate 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.