Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. Invests $260,000 in AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 7,008 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 12.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,454,364 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $85,633,000 after purchasing an additional 265,844 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 59.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 645,685 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,528,000 after purchasing an additional 239,941 shares during the last quarter. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth $8,695,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter worth $6,683,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in AllianceBernstein by 6.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,613,381 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $91,181,000 after purchasing an additional 154,039 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

Shares of AllianceBernstein stock opened at $37.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.25. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a 52-week low of $30.57 and a 52-week high of $41.37. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.55.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share (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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $1.05 dividend. This is a positive change from AllianceBernstein’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.11%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. AllianceBernstein’s payout ratio is 112.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen cut AllianceBernstein from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $38.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 target price on AllianceBernstein in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on AllianceBernstein from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company 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.