AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein cut AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.67.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:AB opened at $40.76 on Friday. AllianceBernstein has a 12-month low of $30.57 and a 12-month high of $41.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. The firm had revenue of $838.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $859.36 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.85%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.02%.

Insider Transactions at AllianceBernstein

In other news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total value of $205,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $861,609.14. The trade was a 19.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AB. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,110,304 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $115,361,000 after buying an additional 496,923 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,026,102 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $112,238,000 after acquiring an additional 33,888 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,899,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $107,552,000 after purchasing an additional 445,398 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 939,649 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,852,000 after purchasing an additional 61,326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis lifted its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 660,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,505,000 after purchasing an additional 93,300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Company Profile

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.