AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Declares Dividend Increase – $1.05 Per Share

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of 1.05 per share by the asset manager on Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.48%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77.

AllianceBernstein has decreased its dividend by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years. AllianceBernstein has a payout ratio of 106.6% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect AllianceBernstein to earn $3.48 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $4.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 120.7%.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AB opened at $36.58 on Friday. AllianceBernstein has a 52-week low of $30.57 and a 52-week high of $41.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $37.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.99.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 9.22%. Analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AllianceBernstein presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.40.

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.