Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Acquires Shares of 15,000 AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 15,000 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $556,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 29,600 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,098,000 after buying an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 8,501 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $315,000 after buying an additional 594 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,721 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 9,518 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company's stock.

AllianceBernstein Trading Up 1.0%

AB stock traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.23. 193,834 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 441,807. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52-week low of $30.57 and a 52-week high of $41.86. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.55, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85. The stock's 50-day moving average is $38.37 and its 200 day moving average is $37.49.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. The business had revenue of $838.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $859.36 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 5.2% 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.16%. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio is currently 86.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 10th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of 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 lowered their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at AllianceBernstein

In other news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total value of $205,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,923 shares of the company's stock, valued at $861,609.14. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 4,825 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $196,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 39,877 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,626,981.60. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AllianceBernstein Company 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.