Mackenzie Financial Corp Takes $560,000 Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Key Points

• Mackenzie Financial Corp has acquired 14,620 shares of AllianceBernstein, representing a new investment of approximately $560,000 in the asset manager.
• AllianceBernstein's quarterly earnings reported an EPS of $0.76, slightly missing the expected $0.77 by $0.01, with revenue of $844.43 million for the quarter.
• The firm announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, with a current yield of 7.5%, while its payout ratio stands at 90.21%.

Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 14,620 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $560,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,110,304 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $115,361,000 after buying an additional 496,923 shares in the last quarter. Natixis increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 660,700 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $24,505,000 after purchasing an additional 93,300 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 454,891 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $16,872,000 after purchasing an additional 5,835 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 380,837 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $14,590,000 after purchasing an additional 9,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 8.0% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AB shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, 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 research report on Friday, June 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.67.

AllianceBernstein Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE:AB traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.83. 58,447 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 497,819. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12 month low of $32.28 and a 12 month high of $43.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.77 and a 200 day moving average of $39.04. The stock has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.82, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.81.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 18.63% and a net margin of 8.35%. The company had revenue of $844.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $853.64 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.21%.

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.