State of Wyoming Purchases 1,375 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

State of Wyoming lifted its position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,462 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,375 shares during the quarter. State of Wyoming’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AB. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Daniel G. Kaye sold 4,825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $205,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $861,609.14. This trade represents a 19.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock opened at $40.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.43. The company has a market cap of $4.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.85. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a fifty-two week low of $30.57 and a fifty-two week high of $41.86.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. The business had revenue of $838.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $859.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.88%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of AllianceBernstein from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company 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.