Fmr LLC Buys 496,923 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

FMR LLC increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) by 19.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,110,304 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 496,923 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned about 2.70% of AllianceBernstein worth $115,361,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 3rd quarter valued at about $418,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 19,071 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $679,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 3rd quarter valued at $180,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 413,165 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $14,919,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in AllianceBernstein by 12.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,454,364 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $85,633,000 after purchasing an additional 265,844 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company's stock.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock traded up $0.02 on Friday, hitting $36.97. 358,551 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 443,050. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52 week low of $30.57 and a 52 week high of $41.37. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. Research analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $1.05 dividend. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.36%. AllianceBernstein's payout ratio is presently 112.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AB. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.50.

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.