AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Shares Sold by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates lowered its holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 67,330 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,486 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $2,089,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Cowa LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the third quarter valued at about $85,508,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in AllianceBernstein by 130.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 926,832 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,885,000 after acquiring an additional 525,176 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in AllianceBernstein by 98.0% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 501,095 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $23,561,000 after acquiring an additional 248,055 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in AllianceBernstein by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,183,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,683,000 after acquiring an additional 246,609 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AB stock opened at $32.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.52. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a twelve month low of $25.83 and a twelve month high of $37.00.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The asset manager reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $857.85 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 14.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.44%. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is 132.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AB. TheStreet raised AllianceBernstein from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AllianceBernstein presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.44.

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.