First National Trust Co Acquires Shares of 26,824 AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

First National Trust Co bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 26,824 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $995,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AB. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the third quarter worth about $31,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,929 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the period. 19.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on AB shares. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 target price on AllianceBernstein in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of 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 report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.75.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AB opened at $37.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s 50-day moving average is $37.51 and its 200 day moving average is $36.47. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 1 year low of $30.57 and a 1 year high of $41.37.

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

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $1.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change 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%. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is 112.90%.

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.