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

Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,742 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $1,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AB. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 20.8% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 87,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,128,000 after acquiring an additional 15,141 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 18.6% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 10,688 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its stake in AllianceBernstein by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 9,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $453,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares during the last quarter. Cowa LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 1st quarter worth $526,000. 14.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AllianceBernstein Trading Up 1.2 %

AB stock traded up $0.33 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $27.73. 51,313 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 299,902. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1-year low of $25.83 and a 1-year high of $42.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 12.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.80.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 27th. The asset manager reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.03. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 14.43% and a net margin of 6.14%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $839.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 3rd. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.38%. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AB. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of AllianceBernstein from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $40.80 to $36.75 in a research note on Tuesday, October 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded AllianceBernstein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 2nd. TheStreet downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded AllianceBernstein from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.31.

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.