AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 758,200 shares, a decline of 39.3% from the January 31st total of 1,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 603,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,110,304 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $115,361,000 after purchasing an additional 496,923 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,899,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $107,552,000 after purchasing an additional 445,398 shares in the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth $10,300,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 1,019.7% during the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 280,961 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,803,000 after purchasing an additional 255,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 59.1% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE AB traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $37.93. The stock had a trading volume of 661,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 368,522. The firm has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $37.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.34. AllianceBernstein has a 52-week low of $30.57 and a 52-week high of $41.37.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued 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 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. Equities research analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $1.05 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.07%. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is 112.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $38.00 to $38.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price target on AllianceBernstein in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.75.

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.