AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on AB. Sanford C. Bernstein cut 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. Bank of America cut AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen cut their target price on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.67.

AllianceBernstein Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE AB traded up $0.11 on Friday, reaching $39.93. 34,355 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 441,210. AllianceBernstein has a fifty-two week low of $30.57 and a fifty-two week high of $41.86. The company has a 50 day moving average of $37.94 and a 200 day moving average of $37.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 10.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. The company had revenue of $838.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $859.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.01%. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.02%.

Insider Activity at AllianceBernstein

In other news, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 4,825 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $196,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,877 shares in the company, valued at $1,626,981.60. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total value of $205,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $861,609.14. This represents a 19.29% 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 company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AllianceBernstein

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AB. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.