Invesco Ltd. Increases Holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. $AB

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. by 45.1%, acquiring an additional 101,041 shares to hold a total of 325,018 shares. This investment is valued at approximately $12.45 million.
• Several hedge funds have initiated new stakes in AllianceBernstein during the first quarter, with notable purchases including $87,000 from NBC Securities Inc. and $77,000 from Zions Bancorporation.
• AllianceBernstein's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $0.76, which missed estimates by $0.01, while its revenue was approximately $844.43 million, falling short of anticipated figures.

Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) by 45.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 325,018 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 101,041 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.29% of AllianceBernstein worth $12,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 2.6% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 380,837 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $14,590,000 after buying an additional 9,628 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 357,445 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $13,258,000 after purchasing an additional 26,577 shares during the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the first quarter worth approximately $12,309,000. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter worth approximately $10,300,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 212,081 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $7,866,000 after purchasing an additional 3,961 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company's stock.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 0.3%

AB stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.60. 106,838 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 170,094. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52-week low of $32.28 and a 52-week high of $43.30. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.75, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.81. The stock's 50-day moving average is $40.78 and its 200 day moving average is $39.19.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.01). AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 18.63%. The business had revenue of $844.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $853.64 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.7%. AllianceBernstein's payout ratio is currently 90.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AB has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "mixed" rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $42.25 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, June 27th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.67.

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.