AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.1667.

AB has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded AllianceBernstein from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

AllianceBernstein stock opened at $37.06 on Monday. AllianceBernstein has a one year low of $32.28 and a one year high of $44.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.48. The company has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.35, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.87.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $957.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $956.45 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 21.17% and a net margin of 6.62%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.4%. This is a positive change from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 10,849 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in AllianceBernstein by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,836 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in AllianceBernstein by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 32,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,255,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 2.2% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 13,190 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 4.5% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 6,915 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.