AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Stock Gets Price Target Trim from TD Cowen

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) had its target price reduced by TD Cowen from $36.00 to $35.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on AB. Evercore set a $39.00 price target on AllianceBernstein in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AllianceBernstein presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.50.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

AB stock opened at $35.12 on Wednesday. AllianceBernstein has a 52-week low of $33.90 and a 52-week high of $44.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.79.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The asset manager reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $904.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $913.82 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 25.75% and a net margin of 6.47%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that AllianceBernstein will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 6th will be paid a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 6th. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.0%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is 97.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Charles Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.17, for a total transaction of $185,850.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,573 shares in the company, valued at $913,378.41. The trade was a 16.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AllianceBernstein

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Almitas Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,381,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the second quarter worth $1,908,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the second quarter worth $522,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 114.6% during the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 74,211 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,778,000 after buying an additional 39,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SMH Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the second quarter worth $395,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

About AllianceBernstein

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) is a global investment management and research firm serving institutional investors, retail clients and private-wealth customers. The company provides investment strategies and advisory services across equities, fixed income, multi-asset portfolios and alternative investments.

AllianceBernstein offers actively managed and customized portfolios, along with mutual funds, separately managed accounts, institutional mandates and other investment vehicles.