Northside Capital Management LLC Takes Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. $AB

Northside Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 13,625 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $556,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AB. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth $48,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth $73,000. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth $77,000. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE AB opened at $38.20 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $40.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.84. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12-month low of $32.28 and a 12-month high of $43.30.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $844.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $853.64 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 18.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is 90.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $42.25 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, June 27th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Friday, September 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.33.

About AllianceBernstein

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.