Tritonpoint Wealth LLC Invests $909,000 in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Tritonpoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 29,300 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $909,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cowa LLC bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the third quarter valued at approximately $85,508,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 130.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 926,832 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $33,885,000 after acquiring an additional 525,176 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 98.0% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 501,095 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $23,561,000 after acquiring an additional 248,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,183,665 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $40,683,000 after acquiring an additional 246,609 shares during the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AllianceBernstein Stock Up 0.8 %

AB traded up $0.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 212,859 shares, compared to its average volume of 302,808. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a twelve month low of $25.83 and a twelve month high of $37.00. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $33.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.25.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The asset manager reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.14. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 14.88% and a net margin of 6.36%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $857.85 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.98%. This is a positive change from AllianceBernstein's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio is presently 132.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on AB shares. TheStreet upgraded AllianceBernstein from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on AllianceBernstein in a report on Thursday, January 4th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $39.44.

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.