Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Buys 297 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. $AB

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 0.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 183,021 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC owned approximately 0.17% of AllianceBernstein worth $7,522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PFG Investments LLC bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter valued at $228,000. Jump Financial LLC boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 238.9% in the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 100,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,843,000 after purchasing an additional 70,718 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 360.6% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,913 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 5,412 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter valued at $548,000. Finally, Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 28.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 55,856 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,140,000 after purchasing an additional 12,225 shares during the period. 19.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AB. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $42.25 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, June 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Friday, September 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.33.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 1.7%

AB opened at $38.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of 11.33, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.84. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1-year low of $32.28 and a 1-year high of $43.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.40.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $844.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $853.64 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 18.63%. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.21%.

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.