AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Stock Position Reduced by Bank of America Corp DE

Bank of America Corp DE decreased its holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 818,423 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 22,085 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.71% of AllianceBernstein worth $30,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at $10,300,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 128.3% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 71,520 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,653,000 after buying an additional 40,191 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 37,388 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,387,000 after buying an additional 2,930 shares during the period. American Trust Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 28.3% during the 4th quarter. American Trust Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,075 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 4,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,721 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 599 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on AB. Barclays increased their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America downgraded AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded AllianceBernstein from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.67.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of AB traded down $0.51 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $39.48. 115,910 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 441,343. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1-year low of $30.57 and a 1-year high of $41.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.45. The company has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 EPS 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 EPS. AllianceBernstein's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.11%. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.02%.

Insider Activity at AllianceBernstein

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

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.