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

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $39.9167.

Several research analysts have recently commented on AB shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Evercore set a $40.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $39.50 to $39.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 17,664.8% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,640,896 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $140,102,000 after buying an additional 3,620,401 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 79.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,412,548 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $54,355,000 after buying an additional 624,270 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 51.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 916,574 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,114,000 after buying an additional 312,878 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 499,202 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $19,209,000 after buying an additional 5,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 348,853 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,422,000 after buying an additional 12,351 shares in the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

NYSE AB opened at $36.38 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.10. AllianceBernstein has a one year low of $35.59 and a one year high of $44.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.80.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The asset manager reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 6.69% and a return on equity of 23.11%. The business had revenue of $871.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $894.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that AllianceBernstein will post 3.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.1%. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is currently 102.15%.

AllianceBernstein Company Profile

AllianceBernstein is a global investment management firm that offers a broad range of research-driven strategies across equities, fixed income, multi-asset solutions and alternative investments. The firm provides active and quantitative portfolio management, drawing on in-house research capabilities to serve the needs of institutional clients, private wealth investors and intermediaries. Its product lineup encompasses mutual funds, separately managed accounts and customized investment vehicles designed to meet diverse risk-return objectives.

The firm’s roots date back to 1967 with the founding of Sanford C.