AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has received an average rating of "Hold" from five analysts, with four hold ratings and one buy rating. The average 12-month price target is $39.67.
• The company recently reported Q2 earnings of $0.76 per share, missing estimates, with revenue of $844.43 million, which was below the consensus of $853.64 million.
• AllianceBernstein has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 7.5% with a payout ratio of 90.21%.

Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Hold" by the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.6667.

AB has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $42.25 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AllianceBernstein from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 10th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on AllianceBernstein from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AB traded up $0.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.50. The company had a trading volume of 158,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 494,624. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.06. AllianceBernstein has a one year low of $32.28 and a one year high of $43.30. The stock has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.81.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $844.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $853.64 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 18.63%. The company's revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio is 90.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AB. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth $48,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth $73,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.