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

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.1667.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on AllianceBernstein from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “neutral” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.50 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AB opened at $40.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.86. AllianceBernstein has a 1 year low of $32.28 and a 1 year high of $43.30. The company’s fifty day moving average is $39.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.97.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $884.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $900.69 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 7.09% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The business’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.6%. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is 113.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AB. Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 238.9% in the first quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 100,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,843,000 after acquiring an additional 70,718 shares during the last quarter. 683 Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth about $20,144,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in AllianceBernstein by 45.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 325,018 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,451,000 after purchasing an additional 101,041 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,064,000. Finally, Ursa Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth about $7,662,000. 19.25% of the stock is 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.