Ursa Fund Management LLC Purchases New Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. $AB

Key Points

• Ursa Fund Management LLC acquired 200,000 shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P., valued at approximately $7.66 million, making it the second largest holding in their portfolio.
• Several hedge funds also increased their stakes in AllianceBernstein, with a collective 19.25% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• AllianceBernstein reported a quarterly EPS of $0.76, missing analysts' estimates, and announced a dividend of $0.76 per share, yielding 7.8% annually.

Ursa Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 200,000 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $7,662,000. AllianceBernstein makes up about 19.7% of Ursa Fund Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Ursa Fund Management LLC owned about 0.18% of AllianceBernstein at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AB. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the first quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the first quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth approximately $77,000. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE AB traded down $0.24 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $37.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 203,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 461,666. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1-year low of $32.28 and a 1-year high of $43.30. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.21, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.84.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.01). AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 18.63%. The company had revenue of $844.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $853.64 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. AllianceBernstein's payout ratio is currently 90.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $42.25 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Barclays lifted their price objective 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. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.33.

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.