AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Hits New 1-Year High - Should You Buy?

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $41.90 and last traded at $41.76, with a volume of 27087 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $41.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on AB. Sanford C. Bernstein cut 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $42.25 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen raised AllianceBernstein from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.50.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.45.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $838.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $859.36 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 18.27% and a net margin of 9.44%. The firm's revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. AllianceBernstein's payout ratio is presently 86.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AllianceBernstein news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total value of $205,900.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,923 shares of the company's stock, valued at $861,609.14. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 4,825 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $196,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 39,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,626,981.60. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 66.5% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 11,512 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 4,599 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 2nd quarter worth $193,757,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth $402,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 21,950 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $841,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 43.5% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 27,375 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,049,000 after purchasing an additional 8,304 shares in the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.