AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.40.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AB shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 12.2% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 878,323 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,645,000 after acquiring an additional 95,847 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 645,685 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,528,000 after purchasing an additional 239,941 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $290,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $264,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 12.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,454,364 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $85,633,000 after buying an additional 265,844 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AB opened at $36.18 on Thursday. AllianceBernstein has a 1 year low of $30.57 and a 1 year high of $41.37. The company has a market cap of $4.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.72, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $37.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.10.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.77%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $1.05 per share. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.61%. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.80%.

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.