Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Increases Stock Holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 182,724 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 4,338 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC owned 0.17% of AllianceBernstein worth $7,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at about $277,000. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC grew its stake in AllianceBernstein by 175.5% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 71,287 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,644,000 after purchasing an additional 45,413 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,683,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at about $246,000. Finally, K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at about $741,000. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AllianceBernstein

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

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock opened at $40.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $39.67 and a 200 day moving average of $38.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.83. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a fifty-two week low of $30.57 and a fifty-two week high of $41.86.

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

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.92%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on AB shares. TD Cowen lowered their target price on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded AllianceBernstein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 10th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.67.

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.