AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a "sell" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports. The firm currently has a $41.00 price objective on the asset manager's stock. Zacks Investment Research's target price points to a potential upside of 13.73% from the company's previous close.
According to Zacks, "ALLIANCE CAP MANAGEMENT L.P. provides diversified investment management services, primarily to pension funds, endowments, foreign financial institutions, and to individual investors. "
A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on AB. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of AllianceBernstein from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Bank of America raised shares of AllianceBernstein from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of AllianceBernstein from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday. ValuEngine raised shares of AllianceBernstein from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, BidaskClub raised shares of AllianceBernstein from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. The stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $32.63.
AB traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $36.05. 7,138 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 352,361. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.51. The company's fifty day moving average price is $33.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.97. AllianceBernstein has a 52-week low of $13.24 and a 52-week high of $36.07.
AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $900.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $897.66 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 7.33% and a return on equity of 17.85%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.
A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AB. Americana Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 2.5% during the third quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 13,725 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Colony Group LLC increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 5.0% in the third quarter. Colony Group LLC now owns 15,158 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. Endurance Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 2.6% in the third quarter. Endurance Wealth Management Inc. now owns 31,550 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $853,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 16.3% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 7,898 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $214,000 after buying an additional 1,105 shares in the last quarter. 17.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
About AllianceBernstein
AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. is publicly owned investment manager. The firm also provides research services to its clients. It provides its services to investment companies, pension and profit sharing plans, banks and thrift institutions, trusts, estates, government agencies, charitable organizations, individuals, corporations, and other business entities.
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