Birinyi Associates Inc. Decreases Stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Birinyi Associates Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,192 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 470 shares during the quarter. Birinyi Associates Inc.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 3.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,005 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 3.4% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 51,763 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,806,000 after buying an additional 1,710 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,650,000. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 11,290 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 115.4% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,426 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Finally, TD Cowen lowered AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $38.50 in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.75.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

AllianceBernstein stock opened at $37.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.23. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1 year low of $30.57 and a 1 year high of $41.37.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. Equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.05 per share. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.17%. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.