StockNews.com Upgrades AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) to "Hold"

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of 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. Barclays upped their target price on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.67.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AB stock opened at $40.76 on Friday. AllianceBernstein has a fifty-two week low of $30.57 and a fifty-two week high of $41.86. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.30. The company has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. The business had revenue of $838.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $859.36 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AllianceBernstein news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of AllianceBernstein stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $205,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,923 shares of the company's stock, valued at $861,609.14. The trade was a 19.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AllianceBernstein

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in AllianceBernstein by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,110,304 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $115,361,000 after purchasing an additional 496,923 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,026,102 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $112,238,000 after buying an additional 33,888 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,899,762 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $107,552,000 after acquiring an additional 445,398 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in AllianceBernstein by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 939,649 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $34,852,000 after acquiring an additional 61,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis boosted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 660,700 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $24,505,000 after purchasing an additional 93,300 shares in the last quarter. 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.

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