Independent Advisor Alliance Sells 1,158 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Independent Advisor Alliance trimmed its position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 12.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,360 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,158 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AB. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter valued at about $38,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter valued at about $48,000. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter valued at about $73,000. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the first quarter valued at about $77,000. 19.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AllianceBernstein Stock Down 2.0%

NYSE:AB opened at $40.41 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.07. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52 week low of $32.28 and a 52 week high of $43.30. The stock has a market cap of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.81.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.01). AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 18.63%. The firm had revenue of $844.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $853.64 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.5%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AB. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $42.25 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, June 27th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “mixed” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.67.

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.