AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Sets New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $33.56 and last traded at $33.6490, with a volume of 39,146 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $33.88.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Friday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.50.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $35.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.33. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a PE ratio of 9.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.74.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The asset manager reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.02. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 25.97% and a net margin of 6.47%. The business had revenue of $904.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $913.82 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 6th will be paid a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.5%. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 6th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is presently 104.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,908,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 2nd quarter valued at $522,000. SMH Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the second quarter worth $395,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the second quarter worth $762,000. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 114.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Company Profile

AllianceBernstein L.P. is a global investment management and research firm serving institutional and individual clients. Its offerings include active equity and fixed-income strategies, multi-asset solutions and alternative investments, as well as private wealth management services. The firm was formed in 2000 through the merger of Alliance Capital Management and Sanford C. Bernstein. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, AllianceBernstein serves clients through offices and operations around the world.