Ursa Fund Management LLC Acquires New Stake 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 acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 200,000 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $7,662,000. AllianceBernstein makes up 19.7% of Ursa Fund Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Ursa Fund Management LLC owned about 0.18% of AllianceBernstein at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

AllianceBernstein Stock Down 0.7%

AB traded down $0.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.10. 88,214 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 458,089. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1-year low of $32.28 and a 1-year high of $43.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.32, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.84.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.76 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $844.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $853.64 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AB shares. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Zacks Research cut AllianceBernstein from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Friday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $42.25 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays raised 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.33.

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.