Raymond James & Associates Cuts Stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Raymond James & Associates lowered its position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 67,330 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,486 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.06% of AllianceBernstein worth $2,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Barclays PLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. State of Wyoming grew its stake in AllianceBernstein by 100.6% in the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 3,162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at about $105,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AB stock opened at $32.64 on Wednesday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a fifty-two week low of $25.83 and a fifty-two week high of $37.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.52.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The asset manager reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.14. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 14.88% and a net margin of 6.36%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $857.85 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.44%. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is 132.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on AB. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 target price on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. TheStreet upgraded AllianceBernstein from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.44.

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.