AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Research

Key Points

• AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) has been downgraded by Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" to a "hold" rating.
• Goldman Sachs has also cut their rating on AllianceBernstein from "buy" to "neutral," lowering the price target from $42.25 to $40.00.
• The firm's quarterly earnings report revealed a slight miss on EPS at $0.76, falling short of the consensus estimate by $0.01 alongside a 5.9% year-over-year revenue increase.

Zacks Research downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday, September 8th,Zacks.com reports.

AB has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $42.25 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.33.

AllianceBernstein Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE:AB traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $38.04. 70,101 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 456,367. The firm has a market cap of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.84. AllianceBernstein has a 52 week low of $32.28 and a 52 week high of $43.30. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $40.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.38.

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

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.0%. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AB. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 4.6% in the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 5,904 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 2.8% in the first quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 10,177 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 3.9% in the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 7,792 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 0.8% in the second quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 37,022 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,512,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, JBR Co Financial Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 4.0% in the first quarter. JBR Co Financial Management Inc now owns 12,033 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.