Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 6,554 AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 6,554 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 3rd quarter valued at $180,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 413,165 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $14,919,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,119 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $895,000 after buying an additional 766 shares during the period. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $203,000. 19.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

NYSE AB traded down $0.14 on Friday, reaching $40.76. 135,259 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 442,251. The stock has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 10.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12 month low of $30.57 and a 12 month high of $41.86. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.28.

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, 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 business had revenue of $838.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $859.36 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. AllianceBernstein's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.85%. AllianceBernstein's payout ratio is currently 86.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America lowered AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective 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, TD Cowen decreased their target price on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from 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 news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $861,609.14. This represents a 19.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

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.