Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Market for AB Holding Units and AB Units; Cash Distributions
AB Holding Units are listed on the NYSE and trade publicly under the ticker symbol “AB.” There is no established public trading market for AB Units, which are subject to significant restrictions on transfer. For information about these transfer restrictions, see “Structure-related Risks” in Item 1A .
AB Holding’s principal source of income and cash flow is attributable to its limited partnership interests in AB.
Each of AB Holding and AB distributes on a quarterly basis all of its Available Cash Flow, as defined in the AB Holding Partnership Agreement and the AB Partnership Agreement, respectively, to its Unitholders and the General Partner. For additional information concerning distribution of Available Cash Flow by AB Holding, see Note 2 to AB Holding’s financial statements in Item 8 . For additional information concerning distribution of Available Cash Flow by AB, see Note 2 to AB’s consolidated financial statements in Item 8.
On December 31, 2020, the closing price of an AB Holding Unit on the NYSE was $33.77 per Unit. On December 31, 2020, there were (i) 974 AB Holding Unitholders of record for approximately 81,000 beneficial owners, and (ii) 378 AB Unitholders of record (we do not believe there are substantial additional beneficial owners).
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Securities
We did not engage in any unregistered sales of our securities during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
Each quarter since the third quarter of 2011, AB has implemented plans to repurchase AB Holding Units pursuant to Rules 10b5-1 and 10b-18 under the Exchange Act. The plan adopted during the fourth quarter of 2020 expired at the close of business on February 10, 2021. AB may adopt additional plans in the future to engage in open-market purchases of AB Holding Units to help fund anticipated obligations under the firm’s incentive compensation award program and for other corporate purposes. For additional information about Rule 10b5-1 plans, see “Units Outstanding” in Item 7 .
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AB Holding Units bought by us or one of our affiliates during the fourth quarter of 2020 are as follows:
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Period Total
Number of
AB Holding
Units
Purchased Average
Price Paid
Per AB
Holding Unit,
net of
Commissions Total
Number of
AB Holding
Units
Purchased as
Part of
Publicly
Announced
Plans or
Programs Maximum
Number (or
Approximate
Dollar Value)
of AB
Holding
Units that
May Yet Be
Purchased
Under the
Plans or
Programs
10/1/20-10/31/20 (1)(2)
109,738 $ 27.95 — —
11/1/20-11/30/20 (1)(2)
490,480 30.97 — —
12/1/20-12/31/20 (1)(2)
2,343,310 32.58 — —
Total 2,943,528 32.14 — —
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(1) During the fourth quarter of 2020, we purchased 2,221,913 AB Holding Units from employees to allow them to fulfill statutory withholding tax requirements at the time of distribution of long-term incentive compensation awards.
(2) During the fourth quarter of 2020, we purchased 721,615 AB Holding Units on the open market pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan to help fund anticipated obligations under our incentive compensation award program.
AB Units bought by us or one of our affiliates during the fourth quarter of 2020 are as follows:
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Period Total Number
of
AB
Units
Purchased Average
Price Paid
Per
AB
Unit, net of
Commissions Total
Number of
AB
Units Purchased as
Part of
Publicly
Announced
Plans or
Programs Maximum
Number (or
Approximate
Dollar Value)
of AB
Units that
May Yet Be
Purchased
Under the
Plans or
Programs
10/1/20-10/31/20 — — — —
11/1/20-11/30/20 — — — —
12/1/20-12/31/20 (1)
800 32.57 — —
Total 800 $ 32.57 — —
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(1) During December 2020, we purchased 800 AB Units in a private transaction.
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Item 6. Selected Financial Data
AllianceBernstein Holding L.P.
The following selected financial data is derived from the consolidated financial statements of AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. and provides summary historical financial information for the periods ended and as of the dates indicated:
Years Ended December 31,
2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
(in thousands, except per unit amounts)
Income statement data:
Equity in net income attributable to AB Unitholders $ 308,404 $ 266,292 $ 270,647 $ 232,393 $ 239,389
Income taxes 29,024 27,729 28,250 24,971 22,803
Net income $ 279,380 $ 238,563 $ 242,397 $ 207,422 $ 216,586
Basic net income per unit $ 2.88 $ 2.49 $ 2.50 $ 2.19 $ 2.24
Diluted net income per unit $ 2.88 $ 2.49 $ 2.50 $ 2.19 $ 2.23
Cash distributions per unit (1)
$ 2.91 $ 2.53 $ 2.68 $ 2.30 $ 1.92
Balance sheet data at period end:
Total assets $ 1,606,033 $ 1,554,264 $ 1,490,701 $ 1,544,704 $ 1,540,508
Partners’ capital $ 1,604,157 $ 1,552,538 $ 1,490,057 $ 1,543,550 $ 1,539,889
________________________
(1) AB Holding is required to distribute all of its Available Cash Flow, as defined in the AB Holding Partnership Agreement, to its Unitholders; for all years presented, the cash distributions per unit reflect the impact of AB’s non-GAAP adjustments.
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AllianceBernstein L.P.
Selected Consolidated Financial Data
Years Ended December 31,
2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
(in thousands, except per unit amounts and unless otherwise indicated)
INCOME STATEMENT DATA:
Revenues:
Investment advisory and services fees $ 2,595,436 $ 2,472,044 $ 2,362,211 $ 2,201,305 $ 1,933,471
Bernstein research services 459,744 407,911 439,432 449,919 479,875
Distribution revenues 529,781 455,043 418,562 412,063 384,405
Dividend and interest income 50,923 104,421 98,226 71,162 46,939
Investment (losses) gains (16,401) 38,659 2,653 92,102 93,353
Other revenues 104,703 97,559 98,676 97,135 99,859
Total revenues 3,724,186 3,575,637 3,419,760 3,323,686 3,037,902
Less: interest expense 15,650 57,205 52,399 25,165 9,123
Net revenues 3,708,536 3,518,432 3,367,361 3,298,521 3,028,779
Expenses:
Employee compensation and benefits:
Employee compensation and benefits
1,494,198 1,442,783 1,378,811 1,313,469 1,229,721
Promotion and servicing:
Distribution-related payments 569,283 487,965 427,186 411,467 363,603
Amortization of deferred sales commissions 27,355 15,029 21,343 31,886 41,066
Trade execution, marketing, T&E and other 189,787 219,860 222,630 213,275 216,542
General and administrative:
General and administrative 485,544 484,750 448,996 481,488 426,147
Real estate charges 5,526 3,324 7,160 36,669 17,704
Contingent payment arrangements 1,855 (510) (2,219) 267 (20,245)
Interest on borrowings 6,180 13,035 10,359 8,194 4,765
Amortization of intangible assets 21,372 28,759 27,781 27,896 26,311
Total expenses 2,801,100 2,694,995 2,542,047 2,524,611 2,305,614
Operating income 907,436 823,437 825,314 773,910 723,165
Income taxes 45,653 41,754 45,816 53,110 28,319
Net income 861,783 781,683 779,498 720,800 694,846
Net (loss) income of consolidated entities attributable to non-controlling interests (4,169) 29,641 21,910 58,397 21,488
Net income attributable to AB Unitholders $ 865,952 $ 752,042 $ 757,588 $ 662,403 $ 673,358
Basic net income per AB Unit $ 3.19 $ 2.78 $ 2.79 $ 2.46 $ 2.48
Diluted net income per AB Unit $ 3.19 $ 2.78 $ 2.78 $ 2.45 $ 2.47
Operating margin (1)
24.6 % 22.6 % 23.9 % 21.7 % 23.2 %
CASH DISTRIBUTIONS PER AB UNIT (2)
$ 3.20 $ 2.82 $ 2.96 $ 2.57 $ 2.15
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Years Ended December 31,
2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
BALANCE SHEET DATA AT PERIOD END:
Total assets $ 9,697,840 $ 8,706,092 $ 8,789,098 $ 9,282,734 $ 8,741,158
Debt $ 675,000 $ 560,000 $ 546,267 $ 565,745 $ 512,970
Total capital $ 4,111,523 $ 4,017,101 $ 3,916,209 $ 4,063,304 $ 4,068,189
ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT AT PERIOD END (in millions) $ 685,923 $ 622,915 $ 516,353 $ 554,491 $ 480,201
(1) Operating income excluding net (loss) income attributable to non-controlling interests as a percentage of net revenues.
(2) Cash distributions per AB Unit reflect the impact of AB's non-GAAP adjustments. Refer to Item 7 for additional information concerning our non-GAAP adjustments.
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