Argyle Capital Management Inc. Cuts Position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Argyle Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 26.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 6,350 shares during the quarter. Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $2,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Group LLC purchased a new position in Allstate in the 4th quarter valued at about $226,000. Stonebrook Private Inc. acquired a new stake in Allstate in the fourth quarter worth $423,000. Matrix Trust Co lifted its stake in Allstate by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 15,656 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,192,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Alexander Randolph Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at $3,077,000. Finally, Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Allstate during the fourth quarter valued at $1,228,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Allstate from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Allstate from $166.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $130.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Allstate from $181.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.71.

Allstate Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of ALL traded down $2.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $170.07. 1,279,038 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,336,406. The stock has a market cap of $44.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -137.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $165.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $149.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The Allstate Co. has a twelve month low of $100.57 and a twelve month high of $176.93.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $5.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $1.95. The company had revenue of $14.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.69 billion. Allstate had a positive return on equity of 2.67% and a negative net margin of 0.33%. The business’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.36) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Allstate Co. will post 13.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Allstate Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.92 per share. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. Allstate’s payout ratio is currently -296.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Allstate

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

Allstate Profile

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.