AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Stock Rating Lowered by Bank of America

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) was downgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $38.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $42.00. Bank of America‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 5.07% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays lowered their price target on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, TD Cowen cut AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $38.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.58.

AllianceBernstein Stock Down 4.6 %

Shares of AB stock opened at $36.17 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $37.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.89. AllianceBernstein has a 12-month low of $30.57 and a 12-month high of $41.37. The firm has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 19.8% in the 4th 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 raised its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 4.9% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,587 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 29,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,098,000 after buying an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 7,907 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 19,071 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

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.