American Century Companies Inc. Sells 1,291,335 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. $AB

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. reduced its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 42.7%, ending the first quarter with 1,734,767 shares valued at approximately $66.46 million.
• Analysts have varied opinions on AllianceBernstein, with Goldman Sachs downgrading the stock to a neutral rating and lowering the price target, while Evercore ISI raised its target, indicating mixed sentiments in the market.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 7.5%, despite having a high dividend payout ratio of 90.21%.

American Century Companies Inc. lessened its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) by 42.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,734,767 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,291,335 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 1.57% of AllianceBernstein worth $66,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter valued at $48,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter valued at $73,000. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter valued at $77,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. 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 note on Friday, July 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "mixed" rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $42.25 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.67.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AB traded up $0.6550 during trading on Friday, hitting $40.1850. The stock had a trading volume of 151,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 180,608. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12 month low of $32.28 and a 12 month high of $43.30. The company has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a PE ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.11.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $853.64 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. The business's revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.6%. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio is presently 90.21%.

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.