Bank of America Downgrades AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) to Neutral

Bank of America cut shares of AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Free Report) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $38.00 price objective on the asset manager's stock, down from their prior price objective of $42.00.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $38.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 target price on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, 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 research report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.08.

AllianceBernstein Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of AB traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $33.71. 458,059 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 829,781. AllianceBernstein has a 12 month low of $30.57 and a 12 month high of $41.37. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97. The company's fifty day moving average price is $37.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.92.

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AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. On average, analysts expect that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $1.05 per share. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.46%. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio is 112.90%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,110,304 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $115,361,000 after buying an additional 496,923 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,899,762 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $107,552,000 after acquiring an additional 445,398 shares during the period. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter worth about $10,300,000. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,695,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,307,000. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company's stock.

AllianceBernstein Company Profile

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.