Head to Head Analysis: AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) and Acadian Asset Management (NYSE:AAMI)

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) and Acadian Asset Management (NYSE:AAMI) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

19.3% of AllianceBernstein shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.7% of Acadian Asset Management shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of AllianceBernstein shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 27.7% of Acadian Asset Management shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

AllianceBernstein pays an annual dividend of $4.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.2%. Acadian Asset Management pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. AllianceBernstein pays out 112.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Acadian Asset Management pays out 1.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for AllianceBernstein and Acadian Asset Management, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AllianceBernstein	0	2	3	0	2.60
Acadian Asset Management	0	1	0	0	2.00

AllianceBernstein presently has a consensus target price of $42.75, indicating a potential upside of 13.67%. Acadian Asset Management has a consensus target price of $27.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.66%. Given AllianceBernstein’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe AllianceBernstein is more favorable than Acadian Asset Management.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares AllianceBernstein and Acadian Asset Management”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AllianceBernstein	$4.48 billion	0.93	$423.37 million	$3.72	10.11
Acadian Asset Management	$505.60 million	1.85	$85.00 million	$2.24	11.20

AllianceBernstein has higher revenue and earnings than Acadian Asset Management. AllianceBernstein is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acadian Asset Management, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

AllianceBernstein has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acadian Asset Management has a beta of 1.46, suggesting that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares AllianceBernstein and Acadian Asset Management’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AllianceBernstein	9.46%	17.88%	17.87%
Acadian Asset Management	16.81%	1,000.27%	18.11%

Summary

Acadian Asset Management beats AllianceBernstein on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

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. The firm employs quantitative analysis along with long-term purchases, short-term purchases, trading, short sales, margin transactions, option strategies including writing covered options, uncovered options and spread strategies to make its investments. The firm obtains external research to complement its in-house research. The firm was formerly known as Alliance Capital Management Holding LP. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. was founded in 1967 and is based in Nashville,Tennessee.

About Acadian Asset Management

Acadian Asset Management Inc. is a publically owned asset management holding company. The firm provides its services to individuals and institutions. It manages separate client focused portfolios through its subsidiaries. The firm also launches equity mutual funds for its clients. It invests in public equity, fixed income, and alternative investment markets through its subsidiaries. The firm was founded in 1980 is based Boston, Massachusetts. It was formally known as BrightSphere Investment Group plc. BrightSphere Investment Group Inc. was formed in 1980 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.