Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys New Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 180,187 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $6,683,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.16% of AllianceBernstein as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Luken Investment Analytics LLC acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at $96,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AB. Bank of America cut AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.67.

AllianceBernstein Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock traded up $1.05 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.72. The stock had a trading volume of 122,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 439,563. The company has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52 week low of $30.57 and a 52 week high of $41.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.11.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $838.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $859.36 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. The business's revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.06%. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.02%.

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.