Canton Hathaway LLC Purchases 9,475 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Canton Hathaway LLC raised its position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) by 79.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,475 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 9,475 shares during the period. Canton Hathaway LLC's holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AB. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 23,679 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $878,000 after purchasing an additional 2,768 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $277,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,815 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 3,518 shares during the period. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,618,000. Finally, JBR Co Financial Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $429,000. 19.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

AB traded up $0.44 on Friday, reaching $40.32. 469,042 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 444,212. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $39.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.00. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52-week low of $30.57 and a 52-week high of $41.86. The company has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.84, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.83.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.44% and a return on equity of 18.27%. The firm had revenue of $838.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $859.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.94%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. AllianceBernstein's payout ratio is presently 86.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AB shares. Barclays upped 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 10th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.67.

Insider Activity at AllianceBernstein

In other AllianceBernstein news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total value of $205,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,923 shares of the company's stock, valued at $861,609.14. The trade was a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 4,825 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 39,877 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.