Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 143,132 Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. $APAM

Key Points

• Hsbc Holdings PLC reduced its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 95%, selling 143,132 shares and retaining only 7,598 shares worth approximately $296,000.
• Artisan Partners announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.68 to $0.73, resulting in an annualized dividend of $2.92 and a dividend yield of 6.4%.
• Brokerages have mixed ratings on Artisan Partners, with one analyst upgrading the stock from "hold" to "buy," while the average consensus price target is $39.30.

Hsbc Holdings PLC lessened its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) by 95.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,598 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 143,132 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC's holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of APAM. Continuum Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the 1st quarter worth $63,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 77.0% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 925 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 118,700.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,376 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 2,374 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 36.2% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,996 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 1,062 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 300.1% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,777 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 3,583 shares during the period. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

APAM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $41.90.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Up 0.6%

APAM stock traded up $0.28 during trading on Monday, hitting $46.58. 166,337 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 564,367. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 1.71. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.75 and a 1 year high of $49.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $282.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $269.00 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.87% and a return on equity of 71.72%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. This is a boost from Artisan Partners Asset Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Artisan Partners Asset Management's payout ratio is currently 77.66%.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Company 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.