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

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

Institutional Trading of AllianceBernstein

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 4.9% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,587 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 29,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,098,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 5.9% during the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 7,907 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 3.2% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,005 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AB traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.93. The stock had a trading volume of 661,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 368,522. AllianceBernstein has a 12 month low of $30.57 and a 12 month high of $41.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $37.47 and a 200 day moving average of $36.34. The firm has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.21.

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 net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. On average, research analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $1.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.07%. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AB shares. TD Cowen downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $38.00 to $38.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays dropped their price target 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. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AllianceBernstein presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.