Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Reduces Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 16.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 54,260 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 10,904 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $2,012,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in AllianceBernstein by 12.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,454,364 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $85,633,000 after purchasing an additional 265,844 shares during the period. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,695,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,683,000. FMR LLC grew its position in AllianceBernstein by 6.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,613,381 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $91,181,000 after acquiring an additional 154,039 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in AllianceBernstein by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 939,649 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,852,000 after acquiring an additional 61,326 shares during the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock opened at $38.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50-day moving average of $37.84 and a 200 day moving average of $36.73. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12 month low of $30.57 and a 12 month high of $41.37.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. Equities research analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.95%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AB shares. TD Cowen lowered AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $38.00 to $38.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 target price on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.75.

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.