Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Trims Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lowered its holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 176,631 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,522 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $6,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 198.7% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,428 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on AB. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Bank of America lowered their price target on AllianceBernstein from $54.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded AllianceBernstein from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AllianceBernstein presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.19.

AllianceBernstein Stock Up 0.9 %

AB stock opened at $33.79 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.21. The company has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.25. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a twelve month low of $25.83 and a twelve month high of $35.43.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $884.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $900.60 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 6.47%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th were paid a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.64%. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is 121.16%.

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.