Nomura Holdings Inc. Increases Holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 61.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 230,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 88,000 shares during the quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. owned about 0.20% of AllianceBernstein worth $7,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the third quarter worth approximately $85,508,000. UBS Group AG lifted its position in AllianceBernstein by 39.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 851,533 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,423,000 after acquiring an additional 242,765 shares during the last quarter. TCG Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 2,811.0% in the fourth quarter. TCG Advisory Services LLC now owns 222,928 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,917,000 after acquiring an additional 215,270 shares in the last quarter. General American Investors Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth about $4,192,000. Finally, Nicola Wealth Management LTD. purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth about $2,762,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AB. TD Cowen dropped their price target on AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. TheStreet upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on AllianceBernstein from $54.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.19.

AllianceBernstein Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of AB stock opened at $33.44 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.98. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12-month low of $25.83 and a 12-month high of $35.43. The company has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.25.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $884.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $900.60 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 6.47% and a return on equity of 15.27%. On average, equities analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th were paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.73%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 121.16%.

AllianceBernstein 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.