Zevin Asset Management LLC Boosts Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Zevin Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 73.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,308 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 4,378 shares during the quarter. Zevin Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. First National Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth about $995,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 16,730 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $621,000 after purchasing an additional 1,501 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 19,930 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 35,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 4,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 58,838 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,182,000 after purchasing an additional 5,876 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on AB. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price objective on AllianceBernstein in a report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen downgraded AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $38.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.75.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

NYSE:AB opened at $37.07 on Friday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1-year low of $30.57 and a 1-year high of $41.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.51 and a 200 day moving average of $36.47. The company has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.97, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.25.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $1.05 dividend. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.90%.

AllianceBernstein 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.