B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Boosts Position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 385.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 54,271 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,088 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $1,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the first quarter valued at $28,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein in the first quarter valued at about $42,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in AllianceBernstein by 1,354.0% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,454 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 1,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in AllianceBernstein during the second quarter worth about $51,000. 19.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI restated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of AllianceBernstein in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. TD Cowen upped their price target on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on AllianceBernstein in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at AllianceBernstein

In related news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $139,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,923 shares in the company, valued at $903,935.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other AllianceBernstein news, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $139,480.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $903,935.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Equitable Holdings, Inc. bought 500,000 shares of AllianceBernstein stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $34.18 per share, with a total value of $17,090,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 3,066,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $104,824,522.84. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AB stock opened at $34.73 on Thursday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52 week low of $25.83 and a 52 week high of $35.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.24.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The asset manager reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $807.42 million. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 7.68%. AllianceBernstein’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. Analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 8.18%. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is 117.84%.

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.