TD Cowen Has Lowered Expectations for AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Stock Price

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) had its price objective lowered by TD Cowen from $37.50 to $34.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

AB has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lowered 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 report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.17.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

AB stock opened at $37.44 on Wednesday. AllianceBernstein has a 1-year low of $30.57 and a 1-year high of $41.37. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $37.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.90. The company has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.06, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. On average, analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.22%. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.90%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 11.9% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 31,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,587 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in AllianceBernstein by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 208,120 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,261,000 after buying an additional 5,196 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 3rd quarter valued at $322,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 3rd quarter valued at $418,000. Hedge funds and other 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.