10Elms LLP Acquires Shares of 15,971 AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

10Elms LLP bought a new position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 15,971 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $592,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AB. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter worth about $556,000. State of Wyoming lifted its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 10,462 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 1,375 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of AllianceBernstein by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 8,501 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 594 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $707,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 133,252 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,942,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AllianceBernstein

In other news, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 4,825 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $196,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 39,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,626,981.60. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $205,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,923 shares in the company, valued at $861,609.14. This represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AllianceBernstein Trading Down 0.5%

AB opened at $40.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.92, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.43. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 12-month low of $30.57 and a 12-month high of $41.86.

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

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.88%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AB. Bank of America lowered shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays upped their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.