Chelsea Counsel Co. Makes New Investment in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. $AB

Key Points

• Chelsea Counsel Co. acquired 10,500 shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. for approximately $402,000 in the first quarter, reflecting growing interest from institutional investors in the asset manager's stock.
• Multiple analysts have recently issued mixed ratings on AllianceBernstein, with Goldman Sachs downgrading the stock from "buy" to "neutral" and Barclays raising its price target to $42.00.
• AllianceBernstein reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.76, missing analyst estimates, and currently maintains a dividend yield of 8.0% with a high payout ratio of 90.21%.

Chelsea Counsel Co. acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 10,500 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its position in AllianceBernstein by 3.6% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 21,950 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $841,000 after acquiring an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in AllianceBernstein by 43.5% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 27,375 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,049,000 after acquiring an additional 8,304 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in AllianceBernstein by 51.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 916,574 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $35,114,000 after acquiring an additional 312,878 shares during the last quarter. Ursa Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the first quarter valued at $7,662,000. Finally, American Trust Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in AllianceBernstein by 12.3% in the first quarter. American Trust Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,545 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $864,000 after acquiring an additional 2,470 shares during the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

NYSE AB traded down $0.48 during trading on Friday, reaching $37.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 164,873 shares, compared to its average volume of 166,814. The firm has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.84. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a twelve month low of $32.28 and a twelve month high of $43.30. The business's fifty day moving average price is $40.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.35.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.01). AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 18.63% and a net margin of 8.35%.The firm had revenue of $844.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $853.64 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. AllianceBernstein's payout ratio is 90.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $42.25 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Zacks Research lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.33.

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.