Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Raises Stock Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 173,964 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,572 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $6,452,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Luken Investment Analytics LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth $96,000. 19.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

NYSE AB opened at $36.97 on Friday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1-year low of $30.57 and a 1-year high of $41.37. The company has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a PE ratio of 9.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.98.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share (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, equities research analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $1.05 per share. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.36%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AllianceBernstein presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

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.