AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) Shares Purchased by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 357,445 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 26,577 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.31% of AllianceBernstein worth $13,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at about $61,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company's stock.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

NYSE:AB traded down $0.56 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $40.24. 355,673 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 443,168. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.55 and a 200 day moving average of $37.21. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a twelve month low of $30.57 and a twelve month high of $41.86. The company has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85.

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

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. 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 7.95%. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AB has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America downgraded AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.67.

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.