Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $6.68 Million in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 180,187 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $6,683,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.16% of AllianceBernstein as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,110,304 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $115,361,000 after buying an additional 496,923 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,899,762 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $107,552,000 after purchasing an additional 445,398 shares in the last quarter. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,695,000. Invesco Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,307,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 939,649 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $34,852,000 after buying an additional 61,326 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.67.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AB traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $37.72. The company had a trading volume of 144,039 shares, compared to its average volume of 441,717. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a one year low of $30.57 and a one year high of $41.37. The company has a market capitalization of $4.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.07.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $838.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $859.36 million. 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.48%. AllianceBernstein's payout ratio is presently 112.90%.

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.