277,697 Shares in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Bought by Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 277,697 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $10,300,000. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. owned 0.24% of AllianceBernstein as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,110,304 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $115,361,000 after acquiring an additional 496,923 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,026,102 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $112,238,000 after purchasing an additional 33,888 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,899,762 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $107,552,000 after purchasing an additional 445,398 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 939,649 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $34,852,000 after purchasing an additional 61,326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 660,700 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $24,505,000 after purchasing an additional 93,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company's stock.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE AB traded down $0.56 on Tuesday, hitting $40.24. 355,673 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 443,168. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $37.55 and a 200 day moving average of $37.21. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a twelve month low of $30.57 and a twelve month high of $41.86. The company has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85.

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

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America lowered AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.67.

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.