Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases 145,932 Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) by 3,041.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 150,730 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 145,932 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.19% of Artisan Partners Asset Management worth $6,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,646 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $674,000 after purchasing an additional 4,485 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 341,336 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $14,695,000 after buying an additional 10,802 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 60.8% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 42,759 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,841,000 after acquiring an additional 16,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 50,592 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,225,000 after acquiring an additional 7,966 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.45% of the company's stock.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

Shares of APAM traded up $1.29 on Friday, reaching $39.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 667,842 shares, compared to its average volume of 474,996. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $38.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.93 and a beta of 1.80. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.75 and a 12-month high of $49.54.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $277.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $281.15 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.36% and a return on equity of 74.02%. The company's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Artisan Partners Asset Management's dividend payout ratio is presently 92.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on APAM. StockNews.com cut Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.30.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Profile

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc is publicly owned investment manager. It provides its services to pension and profit sharing plans, trusts, endowments, foundations, charitable organizations, government entities, private funds and non-U.S. funds, as well as mutual funds, non-U.S. funds and collective trusts.