BNP Paribas Financial Markets Has $2.65 Million Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) by 128.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,520 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 40,191 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.06% of AllianceBernstein worth $2,653,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.0% in 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 during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,899,762 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $107,552,000 after buying an additional 445,398 shares in the last quarter. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter worth about $8,695,000. Invesco Ltd. bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,307,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth $6,683,000. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $205,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $861,609.14. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 4,825 shares of AllianceBernstein stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $196,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 39,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,626,981.60. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AB traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $40.63. 185,605 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 441,375. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12 month low of $30.57 and a 12 month high of $41.86. The company has a market capitalization of $4.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.41.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. The firm had revenue of $838.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $859.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.88%. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio is presently 86.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AB. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays increased their price target on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.67.

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.