Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Makes New $279,000 Investment in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 9,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in AllianceBernstein during the third quarter worth about $4,328,000. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 12.5% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 28,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $859,000 after acquiring an additional 3,158 shares during the period. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,244,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $105,000. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 23.6% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 11,183 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 2,133 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on AB. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.44.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of AB opened at $33.12 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.48. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.25. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1-year low of $25.83 and a 1-year high of $37.00.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The asset manager reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $857.85 million. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 14.88%. AllianceBernstein’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.30%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 132.19%.

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.