AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Hits New 12-Month High After Earnings Beat

Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as high as $35.45 and last traded at $34.94, with a volume of 27977 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.42.

The asset manager reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.42 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 6.47%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AB shares. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $54.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AllianceBernstein presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.69.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 189,724 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,887,000 after acquiring an additional 42,451 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC grew its position in AllianceBernstein by 87.4% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 74,400 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,309,000 after purchasing an additional 34,699 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its position in AllianceBernstein by 61.7% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 230,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,156,000 after purchasing an additional 88,000 shares during the last quarter. General American Investors Co. Inc. acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at $4,192,000. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 59.3% during the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 129,272 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,011,000 after buying an additional 48,122 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Stock Up 0.3 %

The stock has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $33.66 and a 200-day moving average of $33.51.

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.