Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Has $6.30 Million Stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in The Allstate Co. (NYSE:ALL) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 32,684 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,702 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Allstate were worth $6,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Allstate by 5.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 577,934 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,605,000 after buying an additional 28,584 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Allstate by 117.3% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,896 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $944,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Allstate by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 58,600 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $11,297,000 after acquiring an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its position in shares of Allstate by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 401,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $77,413,000 after purchasing an additional 100,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Allstate by 38.0% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,497 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,067,000 after purchasing an additional 2,888 shares during the period. 76.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on ALL shares. Barclays lowered their target price on Allstate from $187.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Allstate from $186.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Allstate from $220.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Allstate from $205.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.13.

Allstate Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALL opened at $190.24 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $192.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $189.07. The Allstate Co. has a fifty-two week low of $153.87 and a fifty-two week high of $209.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.52.

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $7.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.40 by $2.27. Allstate had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 28.20%. As a group, analysts predict that The Allstate Co. will post 18.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Allstate Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.92 dividend. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Allstate’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.66%.

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.