AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $41.50.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays reduced their target price on AllianceBernstein from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Friday. Bank of America lifted their target price on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on AllianceBernstein from $36.50 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $43.00 target price on AllianceBernstein in a research report on Friday.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

NYSE AB opened at $40.40 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $38.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.82. AllianceBernstein has a fifty-two week low of $32.28 and a fifty-two week high of $43.30.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $884.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $900.69 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 7.09%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.5%. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. MGO One Seven LLC raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 32,088 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after buying an additional 4,206 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 3rd quarter valued at $248,000. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 131.6% in the 3rd quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 137,341 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,249,000 after buying an additional 78,047 shares during the period. Nicholas Wealth LLC. raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 30.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nicholas Wealth LLC. now owns 37,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,419,000 after buying an additional 8,681 shares during the period. Finally, KW Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 3rd quarter valued at $244,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

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.