Argent Trust Co Sells 987 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Argent Trust Co trimmed its position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 71,729 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 987 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $2,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AB. FMR LLC boosted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,110,304 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $115,361,000 after buying an additional 496,923 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,899,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $107,552,000 after acquiring an additional 445,398 shares during the period. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,695,000. Invesco Ltd. bought a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,307,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein in the fourth quarter worth about $6,683,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on AB. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $37.50 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein cut AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America cut AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.33.

AllianceBernstein Stock Performance

Shares of AB stock opened at $35.63 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $37.04 and its 200-day moving average is $36.88. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52 week low of $30.57 and a 52 week high of $41.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 9.58, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.97.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.18. AllianceBernstein had a net margin of 9.46% and a return on equity of 17.88%. As a group, analysts forecast that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $1.05 dividend. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is 112.90%.

About AllianceBernstein

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.