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

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.75.

Several brokerages have recently commented on AB. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 target price on AllianceBernstein in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $38.00 to $38.50 in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock opened at $37.56 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $37.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.23. AllianceBernstein has a 1-year low of $30.57 and a 1-year high of $41.37. The company has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.10, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.21.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. Equities research analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $1.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.18%. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.90%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

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.