Gabelli Funds LLC Has $3.93 Million Stock Holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Gabelli Funds LLC cut its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 106,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $3,932,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 19,071 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the third quarter worth $180,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 0.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 413,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $14,919,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 12.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,454,364 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $85,633,000 after acquiring an additional 265,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peddock Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth about $214,000. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI cut their target price on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America cut AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on AllianceBernstein from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AB opened at $36.97 on Friday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52-week low of $30.57 and a 52-week high of $41.37. The firm has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.94, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.02 and its 200-day moving average is $36.95.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $1.05 dividend. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.36%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio 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.