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

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the six brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.67.

Several research analysts recently commented on AB shares. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their target price on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock traded down $0.43 on Friday, reaching $40.37. 307,390 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 442,326. AllianceBernstein has a 52 week low of $30.57 and a 52 week high of $41.86. The company has a 50 day moving average of $37.55 and a 200 day moving average of $37.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 10.85, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $838.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $859.36 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.93%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio is presently 86.02%.

Institutional Trading of AllianceBernstein

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein in the first quarter valued at about $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% 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.