Moors & Cabot Inc. Boosts Stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,838 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 5,876 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $2,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,454,364 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $85,633,000 after buying an additional 265,844 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 645,685 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,528,000 after buying an additional 239,941 shares during the last quarter. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,695,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,683,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,613,381 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $91,181,000 after buying an additional 154,039 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays cut their price target on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $38.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price objective on AllianceBernstein in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.75.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 0.3 %

AB stock opened at $36.76 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of 9.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.25. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12-month low of $30.57 and a 12-month high of $41.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.46.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. On average, research analysts predict that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $1.05 dividend. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.90%.

AllianceBernstein 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.