AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) has been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the four research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $41.19.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AB shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $54.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th.

Insider Transactions at AllianceBernstein

In other news, insider Christopher Hogbin sold 12,781 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $445,673.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,700. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AllianceBernstein

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AB. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 189,724 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,887,000 after acquiring an additional 42,451 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 87.4% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 74,400 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,309,000 after purchasing an additional 34,699 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 61.7% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 230,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,156,000 after buying an additional 88,000 shares during the last quarter. General American Investors Co. Inc. acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth $4,192,000. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 59.3% during the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 129,272 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,011,000 after buying an additional 48,122 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

AB opened at $33.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.24. AllianceBernstein has a fifty-two week low of $25.83 and a fifty-two week high of $35.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $33.73 and a 200 day moving average of $33.61.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The asset manager reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.42 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 7.68% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that AllianceBernstein will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 5th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.59%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is presently 117.84%.

AllianceBernstein Company Profile

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.