Bastion Asset Management Inc. Acquires New Stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Bastion Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 37,619 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,365,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AB. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter valued at $61,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AB shares. Barclays raised their price target 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. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at AllianceBernstein

In other AllianceBernstein news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total value of $205,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,923 shares in the company, valued at $861,609.14. This trade represents a 19.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

AB stock traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $40.76. The company had a trading volume of 92,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 442,128. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12 month low of $30.57 and a 12 month high of $41.86. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $37.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.28. The firm has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 10.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $838.21 million during 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%. AllianceBernstein's revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. Equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio is currently 86.02%.

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.