The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases 26,577 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 357,445 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,577 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.31% of AllianceBernstein worth $13,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the third quarter valued at approximately $180,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 413,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $14,919,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter valued at $214,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,119 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $895,000 after purchasing an additional 766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth $203,000. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock opened at $41.78 on Friday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52 week low of $30.57 and a 52 week high of $41.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.23, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.20.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $838.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $859.36 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.66%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is 86.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AB has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America cut shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. StockNews.com lowered AllianceBernstein from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.67.

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.