AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Upgraded to “Buy” by Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Bank of America currently has $47.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, up from their prior target price of $36.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. TheStreet cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a b rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. StockNews.com began coverage on AllianceBernstein in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a hold rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $42.90.

AllianceBernstein Trading Up 3.3 %

NYSE:AB opened at $32.25 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.28. AllianceBernstein has a 1 year low of $29.05 and a 1 year high of $44.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $31.77 and a 200-day moving average of $33.97.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The asset manager reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $843.41 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 6.19%. AllianceBernstein’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 7th were issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 4th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 107.49%.

Insider Activity at AllianceBernstein

In other AllianceBernstein news, CFO Kate C. Burke sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.56, for a total transaction of $147,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 110,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,257,659.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AB. Resources Management Corp CT ADV boosted its position in AllianceBernstein by 10,955.9% during the second quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 16,805 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 16,653 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 194,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,268,000 after acquiring an additional 15,631 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in AllianceBernstein by 2.2% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 54,459 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,751,000 after acquiring an additional 1,155 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in AllianceBernstein by 301.4% during the second quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,187 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 8,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Portfolio Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 60.8% during the second quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC now owns 16,856 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 6,371 shares during the period. 14.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AllianceBernstein

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. is publicly owned investment manager. The firm also provides research services to its clients. It provides its services to investment companies, pension and profit sharing plans, banks and thrift institutions, trusts, estates, government agencies, charitable organizations, individuals, corporations, and other business entities.