General American Investors Co. Inc. Sells 42,722 Shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB)

General American Investors Co. Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB) by 35.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 42,722 shares during the period. General American Investors Co. Inc.’s holdings in AllianceBernstein were worth $2,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in AllianceBernstein during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AllianceBernstein during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in AllianceBernstein in the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in AllianceBernstein by 198.7% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,428 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 19.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on AllianceBernstein from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Barclays started coverage on AllianceBernstein in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on AllianceBernstein from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at AllianceBernstein

In related news, insider Christopher Hogbin sold 12,781 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total value of $445,673.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $348,700. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Christopher Hogbin sold 12,781 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $445,673.47. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,700. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Charles G.T. Stonehill sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total value of $139,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $903,935.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AllianceBernstein Price Performance

AB opened at $33.08 on Friday. AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. has a one year low of $25.83 and a one year high of $35.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $34.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.72.

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) last posted 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. AllianceBernstein had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 7.68%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $807.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

AllianceBernstein Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. AllianceBernstein’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.