AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Shares Pass Below Fifty Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)’s share price passed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.04 and traded as low as $38.88. AllianceBernstein shares last traded at $39.0550, with a volume of 220,170 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on AllianceBernstein from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Bank of America lifted their price target on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.17.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.86.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.01. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 7.09% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The business had revenue of $884.67 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $900.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is 113.16%.

Institutional Trading of AllianceBernstein

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AB. Jump Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 238.9% during the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 100,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,843,000 after purchasing an additional 70,718 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,135,000. 683 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth approximately $20,144,000. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,064,000. Finally, Ursa Fund Management LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the first quarter worth approximately $7,662,000. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Company Profile

AllianceBernstein is a global investment management firm that offers a broad range of research-driven strategies across equities, fixed income, multi-asset solutions and alternative investments. The firm provides active and quantitative portfolio management, drawing on in-house research capabilities to serve the needs of institutional clients, private wealth investors and intermediaries. Its product lineup encompasses mutual funds, separately managed accounts and customized investment vehicles designed to meet diverse risk-return objectives.

The firm’s roots date back to 1967 with the founding of Sanford C.