Birinyi Associates Inc. Sells 971 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. $AB

Birinyi Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,261 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 971 shares during the quarter. Birinyi Associates Inc.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its position in AllianceBernstein by 4.6% in the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 5,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 10,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 7,792 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 37,022 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,512,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, JBR Co Financial Management Inc increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. JBR Co Financial Management Inc now owns 12,033 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AB has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $42.00 price target on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $42.25 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, June 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.67.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AB opened at $38.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.39, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.82. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12 month low of $32.28 and a 12 month high of $43.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.44.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.01). AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 18.63%. The business had revenue of $844.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $853.64 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.9%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.21%.

AllianceBernstein 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.