AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Price Target Raised to $40.00 at Barclays

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) had its price objective upped by Barclays from $37.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AB. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $42.25 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.00.

AllianceBernstein Stock Up 0.7%

AllianceBernstein stock opened at $41.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 11.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.62. AllianceBernstein has a twelve month low of $30.57 and a twelve month high of $41.99.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $838.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $859.36 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.44% and a return on equity of 18.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is 86.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $205,900.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,923 shares in the company, valued at $861,609.14. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 4,825 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $196,860.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 39,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,626,981.60. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PFG Investments LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the first quarter worth approximately $228,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,683,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter worth approximately $246,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in AllianceBernstein by 360.6% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,913 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 5,412 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its position in AllianceBernstein by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 371,209 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,768,000 after acquiring an additional 16,849 shares during the period. 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.