Kovack Advisors Inc. Reduces Holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Kovack Advisors Inc. cut its stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,239 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,371 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AB. Creative Planning boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 469 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 11,290 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in AllianceBernstein by 1,019.7% in the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 280,961 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,803,000 after purchasing an additional 255,868 shares during the period. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 285.7% in the third quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 8,100 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $283,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AB opened at $37.70 on Friday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a one year low of $30.57 and a one year high of $41.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.25.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.14%. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, TD Cowen cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $38.50 in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.75.

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.