Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Sells 8,609 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) by 12.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,402 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 8,609 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of AllianceBernstein worth $2,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth about $48,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 319 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth about $87,000. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AB shares. Wall Street Zen raised AllianceBernstein from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America lowered AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.50.

Insider Activity at AllianceBernstein

In other news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of AllianceBernstein stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $205,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $861,609.14. The trade was a 19.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 4,825 shares of AllianceBernstein stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $196,860.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 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. Insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:AB traded down $0.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.10. 157,739 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 443,584. The stock has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.82. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a fifty-two week low of $30.57 and a fifty-two week high of $41.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.33.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $838.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $859.36 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 18.27% and a net margin of 9.44%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.02%.

AllianceBernstein 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.