Prospera Financial Services Inc Boosts Stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. $AB

Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 10.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,376 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter valued at about $73,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth approximately $77,000. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $163,000. Finally, Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $204,000. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

AllianceBernstein stock opened at $39.40 on Friday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a fifty-two week low of $32.28 and a fifty-two week high of $43.30. The company has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a PE ratio of 12.96, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.92.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.01. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 7.09%.The firm had revenue of $884.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $900.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. AllianceBernstein’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict 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 will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.7%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 113.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on AB. Zacks Research raised shares of AllianceBernstein from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America upped their target price on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $43.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Friday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.50.

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.