D.A. Davidson & CO. Increases Stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,031 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 11,296 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. owned about 0.13% of AllianceBernstein worth $5,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 740.7% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,270 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,005 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 3rd quarter worth about $671,000. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 51,763 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,806,000 after acquiring an additional 1,710 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,650,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on AB. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.40.

AllianceBernstein Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of AB traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $35.71. 442,269 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 767,468. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.25 and a 200 day moving average of $36.12. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of 9.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.21. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1-year low of $30.57 and a 1-year high of $41.37.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. As a group, research analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.76%. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.90%.

AllianceBernstein Company 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.