AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) Rating Lowered to Neutral at Bank of America

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) was downgraded by equities researchers at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $38.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, down from their previous price target of $42.00. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 5.07% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on AB. Barclays reduced 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. TD Cowen lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $38.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price target on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AllianceBernstein presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.58.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 4.6 %

AB opened at $36.17 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $37.66 and its 200 day moving average is $36.89. The company has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97. AllianceBernstein has a 12-month low of $30.57 and a 12-month high of $41.37.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its quarterly 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%. As a group, analysts predict that AllianceBernstein will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 288,032 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,683,000 after buying an additional 7,071 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter valued at $290,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter valued at $277,000. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 175.5% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 71,287 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,644,000 after purchasing an additional 45,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at about $264,000. 19.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.