AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Short Interest Update

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) saw a significant growth in short interest in 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. Based on an average daily volume of 846,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AB. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.17.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AB stock traded down $0.64 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $37.13. 378,567 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 441,019. AllianceBernstein has a twelve month low of $30.57 and a twelve month high of $41.37. The firm has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.94.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. Analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $1.05 dividend. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.31%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is currently 112.90%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AllianceBernstein

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.