Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 10,904 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) by 16.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 54,260 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 10,904 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $2,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.8% in the fourth 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. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on AB shares. TD Cowen cut AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price target for the company from $38.00 to $38.50 in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price objective on AllianceBernstein in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.75.

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AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AB stock traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $38.31. The company had a trading volume of 623,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 422,727. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12 month low of $30.57 and a 12 month high of $41.37. The firm's fifty day moving average is $37.85 and its 200 day moving average is $36.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.30, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.25.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $1.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.96%. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.90%.

AllianceBernstein 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.