Franklin Resources Inc. Has $15.71 Million Stock Holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. $AB

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 384,740 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,425 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $15,709,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AB. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in AllianceBernstein by 2.6% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 380,837 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $14,590,000 after buying an additional 9,628 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter valued at $560,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter valued at $302,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 44.0% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 14,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $560,000 after purchasing an additional 4,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in AllianceBernstein by 5.3% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 61,940 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,373,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AB opened at $41.40 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.62, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $39.26 and its 200 day moving average is $39.88. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52 week low of $32.28 and a 52 week high of $43.30.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.01. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 7.09% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The business had revenue of $884.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $900.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. AllianceBernstein’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.3%. This is a positive change from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is 113.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 5th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.50 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $43.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Barclays decreased their target price on AllianceBernstein from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.50.

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.