Haverford Trust Co Buys New Shares in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Haverford Trust Co purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,906 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in AllianceBernstein by 1,019.7% during the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 280,961 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,803,000 after purchasing an additional 255,868 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,873,324 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,090,000 after purchasing an additional 234,253 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 426.8% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 273,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,248,000 after buying an additional 221,736 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the second quarter valued at $4,477,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 159.4% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 154,598 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,371,000 after buying an additional 94,989 shares during the last quarter. 19.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on AllianceBernstein from $40.75 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AllianceBernstein currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.00.

AllianceBernstein Trading Up 3.5 %

NYSE:AB opened at $37.05 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.48. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1-year low of $27.16 and a 1-year high of $38.96. The stock has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.61, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.23.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.31%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is 88.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $139,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $903,935.01. This represents a 13.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Equitable Holdings, Inc. purchased 500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was bought at an average price of $34.18 per share, for a total transaction of $17,090,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,066,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $104,824,522.84. This trade represents a 19.48 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

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.