Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Stock Price

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) had its target price decreased by analysts at Barclays from $42.00 to $40.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Barclays‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 1.58% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $42.25 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.33.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

AllianceBernstein stock opened at $39.38 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.82. AllianceBernstein has a 12 month low of $32.28 and a 12 month high of $43.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $38.96 and its 200-day moving average is $39.51.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.01). AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 18.63% and a net margin of 8.35%.The firm had revenue of $844.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $853.64 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth approximately $73,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $115,000. 19.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.