AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB) is seeing a large decrease in short interest

AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB – Get Free Report ) was the beneficiary of a significant decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 914,000 shares, a decrease of 15.4% from the August 15th total of 1,080,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 277,600 shares, the short interest rate is currently 3.3 days.

The Wall Street analyst weighs in

Several analysts commented on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.95, according to MarketBeat .

Check out our latest research report on AB

Insider activity at AllianceBernstein

In other AllianceBernstein news, Director Charles GT Stonehill sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $139,480.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $903,935.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed via this hyperlink. In other AllianceBernstein news, Director Charles GT Stonehill sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $139,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,923 shares in the company, valued at $903,935.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed via this link. Also, insider Christopher Hogbin sold 12,781 shares of AllianceBernstein stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total value of $445,673.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $348,700. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.70% of shares are owned by company insiders.

AllianceBernstein Institutional Trading

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AB. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the first quarter worth about $28,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in AllianceBernstein by 198.7% during the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,428 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. 19.25% of shares are held by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AllianceBernstein stocks rose 0.2%

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $34.60. The company had a trading volume of 392,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 301,432. The stock has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.32, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.24. AllianceBernstein has a 12-month low of $25.83 and a 12-month high of $35.67. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.78.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB – Get Your Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The asset manager reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.04. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 7.68%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $807.42 million. In the same quarter last year, the firm posted EPS of $0.61. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that AllianceBernstein will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein cuts dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5. This represents a dividend of $2.84 on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.21%. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is currently 117.84%.

About AllianceBernstein

(Get a free report)

AllianceBernstein Holding LP is a public equity investment manager. The firm is an affiliate advisor. The firm manages separate client-focused portfolios for its clients. The firm invests primarily in common and preferred stocks, warrants and convertibles, government and corporate fixed income securities, commodities, currencies, real estate and inflation-protected securities.

Read more

Get news and reviews for AllianceBernstein Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for AllianceBernstein and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.