AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.18 EPS

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.18, Zacks reports. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.77% and a net margin of 9.46%.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

AB traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $35.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,939,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 668,803. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.21. AllianceBernstein has a 52 week low of $30.57 and a 52 week high of $41.37. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $37.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.03.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.71%. This is a positive change from AllianceBernstein's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.40.

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.