AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by TD Cowen

TD Cowen cut shares of AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. TD Cowen currently has $38.50 price target on the asset manager’s stock, up from their prior price target of $38.00.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on AB. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AllianceBernstein presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.75.

AllianceBernstein Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock opened at $37.61 on Tuesday. AllianceBernstein has a 12 month low of $30.57 and a 12 month high of $41.37. The company has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of 10.11, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.23.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. Analysts predict that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.17%. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.90%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,110,304 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $115,361,000 after acquiring an additional 496,923 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in AllianceBernstein by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,026,102 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $112,238,000 after purchasing an additional 33,888 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,899,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $107,552,000 after purchasing an additional 445,398 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 939,649 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,852,000 after purchasing an additional 61,326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis boosted its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 660,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,505,000 after buying an additional 93,300 shares during the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AllianceBernstein Company Profile

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm is a related adviser The firm manages separate client focused portfolios for its clients. The firm primarily invests in common and preferred stocks, warrants and convertible securities, government and corporate fxed-income securities, commodities, currencies, real estate-related assets and infation-protected securities.