AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Short Interest Up 146.9% in March

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,300,000 shares, an increase of 146.9% from the March 15th total of 931,700 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 846,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

AllianceBernstein stock traded down $0.64 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.13. 378,567 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 441,019. AllianceBernstein has a 52-week low of $30.57 and a 52-week high of $41.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $36.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $1.05 dividend. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is presently 112.90%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,110,304 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $115,361,000 after acquiring an additional 496,923 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 445,398 shares during the period. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth about $10,300,000. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,695,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,307,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America cut AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AllianceBernstein currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.17.

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.