XTX Topco Ltd Makes New Investment in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Key Points

• XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P., buying 7,873 shares valued at approximately $302,000.
• Several hedge funds have increased their holdings in AllianceBernstein, with FMR LLC boosting its position by 19.0% in the last quarter.
• AllianceBernstein recently reported earnings of $0.76 EPS, missing estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share with a yield of 7.5%.

XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,873 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 5,904 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC lifted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 10,177 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 29,600 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,098,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. JBR Co Financial Management Inc lifted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. JBR Co Financial Management Inc now owns 12,033 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Group LLC lifted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 6,965 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

AllianceBernstein Stock Down 1.8%

NYSE:AB traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $40.49. 21,043 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 492,345. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.81. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52 week low of $32.28 and a 52 week high of $43.30. The firm's 50 day moving average is $40.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.07.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $844.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $853.64 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 18.63%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio is presently 90.21%.

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.