Global Retirement Partners LLC Takes $722,000 Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. $AB

Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 17,679 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $722,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 2nd quarter valued at $193,757,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 312,878 shares in the last quarter. 683 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth about $20,144,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in AllianceBernstein by 2.6% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 380,837 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,590,000 after acquiring an additional 9,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 45.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 325,018 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,451,000 after acquiring an additional 101,041 shares during the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AllianceBernstein Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:AB opened at $41.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of 13.62, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.86. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1 year low of $32.28 and a 1 year high of $43.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.88.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.01. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 7.09% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The company had revenue of $884.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $900.69 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate 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, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.3%. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is currently 113.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AB. Zacks Research raised AllianceBernstein from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Bank of America increased their price target on AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.50.

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.