EP Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $214,000 in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,850 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AB. Cowa LLC acquired a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 216.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,965,237 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,546,000 after buying an additional 1,344,671 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 1,962.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,249,902 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $42,959,000 after buying an additional 1,189,310 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 130.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 926,832 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,885,000 after buying an additional 525,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at $10,761,000. 14.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AllianceBernstein news, CFO Kate C. Burke sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.56, for a total value of $147,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 110,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,257,659.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AB. Bank of America upgraded AllianceBernstein from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 5th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on AllianceBernstein in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, TheStreet downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.38.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AB opened at $32.35 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $31.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.53. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a one year low of $29.05 and a one year high of $42.38. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.28.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The asset manager reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.05). AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 6.19%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $843.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. AllianceBernstein’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 7th were given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 4th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.54%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is currently 107.49%.

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.