AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.77 Per Share

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.77 per share by the asset manager on Sunday, November 24th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This is a positive change from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71.

AllianceBernstein has decreased its dividend by an average of 2.1% annually over the last three years. AllianceBernstein has a payout ratio of 78.0% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities research analysts expect AllianceBernstein to earn $3.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 79.3%.

AllianceBernstein Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of AB stock opened at $38.33 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $35.10 and a 200-day moving average of $34.11. AllianceBernstein has a 12-month low of $25.83 and a 12-month high of $38.96. The firm has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.90, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.24.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The asset manager reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.04. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 7.68% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.61 EPS. AllianceBernstein’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that AllianceBernstein will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AB shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.75 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Equitable Holdings, Inc. purchased 500,000 shares of AllianceBernstein stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $34.18 per share, for a total transaction of $17,090,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,066,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $104,824,522.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Equitable Holdings, Inc. acquired 500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $34.18 per share, with a total value of $17,090,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 3,066,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $104,824,522.84. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 4,000 shares of AllianceBernstein stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $139,480.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $903,935.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.70% 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.