AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) to Issue Dividend Increase – $1.05 Per Share

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of 1.05 per share by the asset manager on Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.53%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77.

AllianceBernstein has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 5.9% annually over the last three years. AllianceBernstein has a payout ratio of 106.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect AllianceBernstein to earn $3.48 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $4.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 120.7%.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock traded up $0.38 on Friday, hitting $36.42. The stock had a trading volume of 1,281,744 shares, compared to its average volume of 610,259. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.44, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.24 and a 200 day moving average of $35.99. AllianceBernstein has a twelve month low of $30.57 and a twelve month high of $41.37.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 16.23%. Equities analysts expect that AllianceBernstein will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AB shares. Barclays cut their target price on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AllianceBernstein has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.40.

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.