AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Shares Sold by Boston Partners

Boston Partners lowered its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,789 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,326 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners’ holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $1,439,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 265,844 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 59.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 645,685 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,528,000 after buying an additional 239,941 shares in the last quarter. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,695,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,683,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 6.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,613,381 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $91,181,000 after buying an additional 154,039 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

AB stock opened at $38.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.22, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.25. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1 year low of $30.57 and a 1 year high of $41.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $37.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.61.

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

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $1.05 dividend. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.05%. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $38.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.