AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Stake Cut by Wedbush Securities Inc.

Wedbush Securities Inc. reduced its holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 9.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,730 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,040 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AB. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,110,304 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $115,361,000 after purchasing an additional 496,923 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,899,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $107,552,000 after purchasing an additional 445,398 shares in the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth about $12,309,000. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth about $10,300,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth about $8,307,000. 19.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AllianceBernstein news, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 4,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $196,860.00. Following the sale, the director owned 39,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,626,981.60. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total value of $205,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,923 shares in the company, valued at $861,609.14. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AB shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on AllianceBernstein from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised AllianceBernstein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 10th. Bank of America downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded 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 research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.67.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AB opened at $42.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.81. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52 week low of $30.57 and a 52 week high of $43.30.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released 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). The business had revenue of $844.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $853.64 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 18.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.96%.

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.