Aviance Capital Partners LLC Sells 799 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 12.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,651 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 799 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Allstate by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,270,589 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,595,266,000 after buying an additional 3,322,673 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Allstate by 46.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,121,941 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $459,225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,311,095 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Allstate by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,184,211 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $466,163,000 after purchasing an additional 782,696 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Allstate by 49.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,640,174 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $183,388,000 after purchasing an additional 542,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Allstate by 16.9% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,701,607 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $412,396,000 after purchasing an additional 536,137 shares in the last quarter. 76.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $130.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Allstate from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Allstate from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Allstate from $166.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Allstate from $171.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total value of $5,276,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 63,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,847,016.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider John E. Dugenske sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $5,276,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 63,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,847,016.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO John C. Pintozzi sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total value of $637,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 10,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,712,069.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Allstate Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE ALL traded down $1.89 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $168.19. 1,723,598 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,681,339. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $44.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $166.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $151.91. The Allstate Co. has a one year low of $100.57 and a one year high of $177.37.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The insurance provider reported $5.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $1.02. The firm had revenue of $15.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.76 billion. Allstate had a return on equity of 14.44% and a net margin of 2.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.30) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 14.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. This is a boost from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.24%.

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.