Short Interest in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Rises By 12.3%

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 997,200 shares, a growth of 12.3% from the December 31st total of 887,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 364,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AB. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.40.

Institutional Trading of AllianceBernstein

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 12.2% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 878,323 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $30,645,000 after acquiring an additional 95,847 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 645,685 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $22,528,000 after purchasing an additional 239,941 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,454,364 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $85,633,000 after purchasing an additional 265,844 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $290,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the third quarter valued at $671,000. 19.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AllianceBernstein Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE AB traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $36.58. The company had a trading volume of 1,432,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 617,280. The stock has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.48, a PEG ratio of 0.81 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.99.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 16.23%. On average, equities analysts expect that AllianceBernstein will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be 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 is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.48%. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.25%.

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.