AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Price Target Raised to $40.00

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) had its target price upped by Barclays from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

AB has been the subject of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AllianceBernstein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 10th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $42.25 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.00.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AB opened at $41.23 on Wednesday. AllianceBernstein has a 52 week low of $30.57 and a 52 week high of $41.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.08, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.41 and a 200-day moving average of $38.62.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $838.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $859.36 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 18.27% and a net margin of 9.44%. AllianceBernstein’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.76%. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is presently 86.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 4,825 shares of AllianceBernstein stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $196,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 39,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,626,981.60. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of AllianceBernstein stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $205,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $861,609.14. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chelsea Counsel Co. grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 807.9% during the 2nd quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 95,330 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,892,000 after purchasing an additional 84,830 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 66.5% during the 2nd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 9,923 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 3,965 shares in the last quarter. FCG Investment Co bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 2nd quarter worth $362,000. Northside Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 2nd quarter worth $556,000. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 2nd quarter worth $245,000. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AllianceBernstein

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.