Is AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB) a buy, sell, or hold? The smart money is in a pessimistic mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets went down by 1 lately.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of indicators shareholders can use to track Mr. Market. Two of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can beat the S&P 500 by a superb amount (see just how much).
Just as beneficial, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. There are plenty of incentives for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if you know what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the key action encompassing AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB).
What have hedge funds been doing with AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -11% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.
According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the largest position in AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB). Royce & Associates has a $87.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Mario Gabelli of GAMCO Investors, with a $12 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies, Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management and Charles Davidson’s Wexford Capital.
Since AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB) has experienced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there were a few hedge funds who sold off their positions entirely at the end of the year. Interestingly, Himanshu H. Shah’s Shah Capital Management dumped the largest stake of the 450+ funds we watch, totaling about $2.2 million in stock.. Jacob Gottlieb’s fund, Visium Asset Management, also dumped its stock, about $0.2 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds at the end of the year.
How are insiders trading AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB). These stocks are Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE:CNS), Financial Engines Inc (NASDAQ:FNGN), Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE:FIG), Janus Capital Group Inc (NYSE:JNS), and Federated Investors Inc (NYSE:FII). All of these stocks are in the asset management industry and their market caps are similar to AB’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE:CNS) | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| Financial Engines Inc (NASDAQ:FNGN) | 5 | 0 | 12 |
| Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE:FIG) | 10 | 0 | 2 |
| Janus Capital Group Inc (NYSE:JNS) | 11 | 1 | 5 |
| Federated Investors Inc (NYSE:FII) | 22 | 0 | 5 |
With the results shown by our strategies, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and AllianceBernstein Holding LP (NYSE:AB) is an important part of this process.
