Barclays Raises AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Price Target to $36.00

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) had its price target raised by Barclays from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on AB. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on AllianceBernstein from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on AllianceBernstein from $40.75 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.20.

AllianceBernstein Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:AB opened at $37.72 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.95. AllianceBernstein has a 52 week low of $25.83 and a 52 week high of $37.97.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The asset manager reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $807.42 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 7.68%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that AllianceBernstein will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is presently 117.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total value of $139,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $903,935.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Equitable Holdings, Inc. bought 500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $34.18 per share, for a total transaction of $17,090,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 3,066,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $104,824,522.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $139,480.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $903,935.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AB. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter worth about $230,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 79.1% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 20,034 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 8,851 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 61.7% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 230,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,156,000 after buying an additional 88,000 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 4.5% in the first quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 41,912 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,456,000 after buying an additional 1,807 shares during the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.