AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from Barclays

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) had its price target decreased by Barclays from $39.00 to $37.00 in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Friday, October 9th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on AllianceBernstein from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Evercore set a $39.00 target price on AllianceBernstein in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research raised AllianceBernstein from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AllianceBernstein presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.88.

AllianceBernstein Stock Up 0.1%

AB stock opened at $34.80 on Wednesday. AllianceBernstein has a twelve month low of $33.90 and a twelve month high of $44.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.99.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced 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 analysts’ expectations of $907.67 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 25.94%. The company’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AllianceBernstein will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is a decrease from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 12th. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is presently 97.04%.

Insider Activity at AllianceBernstein

In other news, Director Charles Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.17, for a total value of $185,850.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,573 shares in the company, valued at approximately $913,378.41. This represents a 16.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Axiom Investment Management LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ascentis Independent Advisors bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, NFSG Corp raised its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 800.0% during the first quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 900 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Company Profile

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) is a global investment management and research firm serving institutional investors, retail clients and private-wealth customers. The company provides investment strategies and advisory services across public and private markets, including equities, fixed income, multi-asset portfolios, alternatives and sustainable investing.

AllianceBernstein’s offerings include actively managed mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, separately managed accounts, institutional mandates and private-market solutions.