Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. Takes Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 7,008 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AB. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the third quarter valued at $36,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at $61,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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AllianceBernstein Price Performance

NYSE AB traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,452,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 403,276. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12 month low of $30.57 and a 12 month high of $41.37. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $37.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.59. The company has a market cap of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.25.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share (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 predict that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $1.05 dividend. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.05%. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.