Short Interest in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Declines By 28.8%

Key Points

• Short interest in AllianceBernstein declined by 28.8% in August, with a total of 231,700 shares short sold, representing only 0.2% of the company's shares.
• The company's most recent earnings report showed an EPS of $0.76, missing estimates, with revenue of $844.43 million, marking a 5.9% increase year-over-year.
• Despite a recent dividend declaration of $0.76, the firm's payout ratio is high at 90.21%, indicating potential concerns regarding future dividend sustainability.

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 231,700 shares, a decline of 28.8% from the August 15th total of 325,200 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 176,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.3 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 176,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.3 days. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

AB stock opened at $37.98 on Tuesday. AllianceBernstein has a one year low of $32.28 and a one year high of $43.30. The company's fifty day moving average price is $40.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.38. The company has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a PE ratio of 11.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.84.

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

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. AllianceBernstein's payout ratio is currently 90.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on AB shares. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Friday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $42.25 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Zacks Research lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AB. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the second quarter worth about $193,757,000. 683 Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the first quarter worth about $20,144,000. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the first quarter worth about $12,309,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 51.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 916,574 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $35,114,000 after purchasing an additional 312,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ursa Fund Management LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth about $7,662,000. 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.

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