Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Sells 138,882 Shares of The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lessened its holdings in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 719,511 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 138,882 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC’s holdings in Allstate were worth $138,715,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Apella Capital LLC grew its stake in Allstate by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA boosted its holdings in shares of Allstate by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 12,135 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,340,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Allstate by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $571,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of Allstate by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Allstate from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus upgraded Allstate from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Allstate from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Allstate currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $7,480,226.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,115 shares in the company, valued at $3,378,990.95. This represents a 68.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Allstate Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Allstate stock opened at $206.46 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $195.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $193.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.36. The Allstate Co. has a fifty-two week low of $156.66 and a fifty-two week high of $212.91. The company has a market cap of $54.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.47.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last issued 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 return on equity of 28.20% and a net margin of 7.28%. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Allstate’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. Allstate’s payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

Allstate declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the insurance provider to buy up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Allstate Company 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.