Insurance provider The Allstate Corporation (ALL) on Wednesday received some bullish commentary from analysts at Deutsche Bank.

The firm reiterated its “Buy” rating on ALL and lifted its price target to $46. That new target suggests a 23% upside to the stock’s Tuesday closing price of $37.40.

A Deutsche Bank analyst commented, “We believe that margin expansion in Allstate’s homeowners’ book has just begun to emerge following four years of rate increases. Further, we believe that this is not being accounted for because a recent change in Allstate’s disclosure — the inclusion of catastrophe-related reserve releases — prevented investors from properly modeling margin improvements. In addition to 2H12 EPS beats, we expect consensus 2013 EPS estimates are poised to rise. We’re taking our 2013 EPS estimate to $4.65 from $4.35.”

Allstate shares were mostly flat in premarket trading Wednesday.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Allstate (ALL) have a 2.35% dividend yield, based on last night’s closing stock price of $37.40. The stock has technical support in the $34-$35 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $38-$42 price levels.

The Allstate Corporation (ALL) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks, as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here.