Wedbush Securities Inc. Grows Holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 14.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,350 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AB. Luken Investment Analytics LLC purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth $61,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 19.8% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AB shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $38.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.08.

AllianceBernstein Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock opened at $32.95 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.26 and a 200 day moving average of $36.88. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52 week low of $30.57 and a 52 week high of $41.37. The company has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a PE ratio of 8.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. On average, research analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $1.05 per share. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.75%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is 112.90%.

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.