The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB - Free Report) by 426.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 273,695 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 221,736 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.24% of AllianceBernstein worth $9,248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth about $23,660,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 8.9% in 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 during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,477,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 159.4% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 154,598 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $5,371,000 after purchasing an additional 94,989 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 231.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 127,220 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,420,000 after purchasing an additional 88,875 shares during the period. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen increased their target price on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on AllianceBernstein from $40.75 to $41.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on AllianceBernstein in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.00.
View Our Latest Analysis on AB
In other AllianceBernstein news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 25,923 shares in the company, valued at $903,935.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 4,000 shares of AllianceBernstein stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total value of $139,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $903,935.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Equitable Holdings, Inc. bought 500,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $34.18 per share, with a total value of $17,090,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,066,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $104,824,522.84. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.
AB stock opened at $34.71 on Friday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1 year low of $25.83 and a 1 year high of $35.67. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.88. The firm has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.24.
AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The asset manager reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.04. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 7.68%. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. AllianceBernstein's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.18%. AllianceBernstein's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.84%.
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.
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