Evolve Private Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. $AB

Evolve Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 25,992 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $297,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 17,664.8% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,640,896 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $140,102,000 after acquiring an additional 3,620,401 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in AllianceBernstein by 79.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,412,548 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $54,355,000 after purchasing an additional 624,270 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in AllianceBernstein by 51.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 916,574 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,114,000 after purchasing an additional 312,878 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 499,202 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $19,209,000 after purchasing an additional 5,364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 348,853 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,422,000 after purchasing an additional 12,351 shares during the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.17, for a total value of $185,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 24,573 shares in the company, valued at $913,378.41. The trade was a 16.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore set a $39.00 price objective on AllianceBernstein in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Friday, July 10th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on AllianceBernstein from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded AllianceBernstein from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.50.

AllianceBernstein Stock Up 0.5%

AB stock opened at $36.81 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.77. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52-week low of $34.92 and a 52-week high of $44.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.89, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.80.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The asset manager reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.01). AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 25.94%. The business had revenue of $887.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $907.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. AllianceBernstein’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.04%.

AllianceBernstein Profile

AllianceBernstein is a global investment management firm that offers a broad range of research-driven strategies across equities, fixed income, multi-asset solutions and alternative investments. The firm provides active and quantitative portfolio management, drawing on in-house research capabilities to serve the needs of institutional clients, private wealth investors and intermediaries. Its product lineup encompasses mutual funds, separately managed accounts and customized investment vehicles designed to meet diverse risk-return objectives.

The firm’s roots date back to 1967 with the founding of Sanford C.