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

Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have 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 $37.67.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded AllianceBernstein from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, April 3rd.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

NYSE:AB traded up $0.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $40.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 98,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 441,814. The business's fifty day moving average is $37.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.23. The stock has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.98, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85. AllianceBernstein has a 1 year low of $30.57 and a 1 year high of $41.86.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.83%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio is currently 86.02%.

Institutional Trading of AllianceBernstein

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.