Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Cuts Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC trimmed its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,010 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 132 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ALL. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 157.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,591,138 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,270,705,000 after purchasing an additional 4,035,629 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Allstate in the 4th quarter worth about $344,354,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 64.1% in the 4th 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 period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 25,026.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,273,895 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $263,785,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268,825 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Allstate by 15,062.3% in the 4th 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. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ALL. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Allstate in a report on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Allstate from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price (up from $240.00) on shares of Allstate in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Allstate from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.20.

Allstate Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALL opened at $206.41 on Friday. The Allstate Co. has a fifty-two week low of $156.66 and a fifty-two week high of $213.18. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $199.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.09. 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 cap of $54.66 billion, a PE ratio of 12.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.32.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued 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 net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. The business had revenue of $14.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.41 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.13 EPS. Allstate’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Allstate’s payout ratio is 27.32%.

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

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.