Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Purchases 4,526 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 23.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,788 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,526 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in AllianceBernstein by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 878,323 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,645,000 after acquiring an additional 95,847 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 288,032 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,683,000 after buying an additional 7,071 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AllianceBernstein by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 645,685 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,528,000 after buying an additional 239,941 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth about $290,000. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 4th quarter worth about $264,000. 19.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock opened at $38.21 on Thursday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a one year low of $30.57 and a one year high of $41.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.49 and its 200 day moving average is $36.36. The firm has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.25.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 17.88% and a net margin of 9.46%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $1.05 per share. This is a positive change from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.99%. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AB shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on AllianceBernstein from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 target price on AllianceBernstein in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays lowered their target price on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $38.00 to $38.50 in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.75.

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.