Farther Finance Advisors LLC Grows Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 360.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,913 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,412 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth approximately $48,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.8% during 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 during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth approximately $87,000. 19.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America lowered AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays upped their price target on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.67.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock opened at $39.94 on Thursday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a one year low of $30.57 and a one year high of $41.86. The firm has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $39.41 and its 200-day moving average is $37.92.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 18.27% and a net margin of 9.44%. The business had revenue of $838.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $859.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.01%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 4,825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $196,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,877 shares in the company, valued at $1,626,981.60. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $205,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $861,609.14. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.