AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AB. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $42.25 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.33.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

AB stock opened at $37.78 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.35. The company has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.84. AllianceBernstein has a 12 month low of $32.28 and a 12 month high of $43.30.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $844.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $853.64 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 18.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.0%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein during the second quarter worth $193,757,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in AllianceBernstein by 51.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 916,574 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,114,000 after acquiring an additional 312,878 shares during the period. 683 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth $20,144,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in AllianceBernstein by 2.6% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 380,837 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,590,000 after acquiring an additional 9,628 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 45.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 325,018 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,451,000 after buying an additional 101,041 shares during the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.