AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.50.

A number of research firms recently commented on AB. TD Cowen upped their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Evercore set a $39.00 target price on AllianceBernstein in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research upgraded AllianceBernstein from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut AllianceBernstein from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd.

AllianceBernstein Trading Up 0.5%

AllianceBernstein stock opened at $36.30 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.37. AllianceBernstein has a 12-month low of $34.92 and a 12-month high of $44.11. The stock has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.74, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.79.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The asset manager reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $887.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $907.67 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 25.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein will post 3.47 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th were issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 12th. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is 97.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AllianceBernstein news, Director Charles Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.17, for a total transaction of $185,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 24,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $913,378.41. This trade represents a 16.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AB. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 17,664.8% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,640,896 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $140,102,000 after buying an additional 3,620,401 shares during the period. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 193,741 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,455,000 after acquiring an additional 5,485 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in AllianceBernstein by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 156,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,867,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in AllianceBernstein by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 115,126 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,311,000 after acquiring an additional 6,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in AllianceBernstein by 114.6% during the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 74,211 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,778,000 after purchasing an additional 39,636 shares during the period. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AllianceBernstein Company Profile

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE: AB) is a global investment management company that provides investment products, research and related services to institutional investors, financial advisers, individual investors and private-wealth clients. Its offerings span equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies, alternatives and other portfolio solutions.

The company serves clients through institutional and retail channels, including pension plans, governments, foundations, insurance companies, financial intermediaries and high-net-worth individuals.