Allstate downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley analyst Bob Huang downgraded Allstate (ALL) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $215, down from $245. While Allstate has made significant effort to return to strong profitability and improving growth, the firm believes the thesis is “now largely understood by investors,” the analyst says. In personal lines, carriers that spent the past two years repairing margins will increasingly shift from defense to offense, adds the analyst, who contends that the “path for a more challenging year is relatively clear.”