Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Decreases Stake in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. $AB

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. reduced its holdings in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,901 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 346 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $527,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth about $38,000. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth about $73,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein during the first quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in AllianceBernstein by 100.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $197,000 after purchasing an additional 2,575 shares during the period. 19.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of AB opened at $39.28 on Friday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1-year low of $32.28 and a 1-year high of $43.30. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 11.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.55.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.01. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 18.63%. The business had revenue of $884.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $900.69 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.8%. This is an increase from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $42.25 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of AllianceBernstein from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of AllianceBernstein in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.33.

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.