AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,300,000 shares, a growth of 146.9% from the March 15th total of 931,700 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 846,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AB shares. Barclays raised their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock traded down $0.19 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $37.00. 260,937 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 441,248. AllianceBernstein has a 1 year low of $30.57 and a 1 year high of $41.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.95, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.94.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 a positive change from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.35%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.90%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the third quarter worth about $418,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 19,071 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $679,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the third quarter valued at $180,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in AllianceBernstein by 0.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 413,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,919,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in AllianceBernstein by 12.1% during the third 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 in the last quarter. 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.