Stock Reaction and 52-Week Context
AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE: AB) units rose during intraday trading on Thursday. This happened right after the company released its fourth-quarter results. However, the earnings materials did not reveal the exact percentage move. Meanwhile, the stock traded within a broad 52-week range, just like its asset-manager peers. Higher equity markets supported this, and rising assets under management (AUM) boosted performance through 2025. Additionally, no analysts announced upgrades, downgrades, or price-target changes alongside the release.
Quarterly Financial Performance
AllianceBernstein reported fourth-quarter 2025 net revenues of $1.224 billion. This marked a 2.7% drop year over year from $1.258 billion. Lower performance-based fees mainly caused the decline. Operating income totaled $308.5 million, slipping 2.8% from the prior year. Yet, the operating margin improved slightly to 25.1%, up 10 basis points year over year. On an adjusted basis, operating income reached $329.9 million, with an adjusted margin of 34.5%. However, both figures declined from last year. GAAP diluted net income per unit stood at $0.90. Adjusted net income per unit came in at $0.96. Finally, the firm declared a cash distribution of $0.96 per unit for the quarter.
Assets and Flows
Ending AUM hit $866.9 billion, climbing 9.4% year over year and 0.8% from the previous quarter. Average AUM rose 8.0% year over year to $865.1 billion. Despite this growth, the firm faced total net outflows of $4.7 billion in Q4—wider than the prior quarter. Institutional and retail channels both saw outflows. Private Wealth partially offset these, however, with $0.7 billion in inflows.
Full-Year 2025 Results
For full-year 2025, net revenues reached $4.531 billion, up 1.2%. Operating income totaled $1.050 billion, down 6.5%. The operating margin fell to 23.0%, down 170 basis points. GAAP net income per unit was $2.97. Adjusted metrics showed more resilience, though. Adjusted operating income climbed to $1.188 billion, up 4.2%. The adjusted operating margin improved to 33.7%, up 140 basis points. Adjusted net income per unit rose 2.5% to $3.33. Additionally, full-year cash distributions totaled $3.38 per unit, up 3.7%.
Business Drivers and Strategy
Management highlighted growth in private markets, insurance mandates, SMAs, and active ETFs as key expansion areas. Private markets AUM reached $82 billion, surging 18% year over year. Despite $9.4 billion in active net outflows for 2025, sales exceeded $140 billion. This reflected strong client demand, especially in fixed income and alternatives.
Bottom Line
AllianceBernstein closed 2025 with record AUM and stronger adjusted margins. However, quarterly revenues and flows faced pressure from lower performance fees and active equity outflows.
