Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. $APAM Shares Sold by Hsbc Holdings PLC

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 decreased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) by 95.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,598 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 143,132 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC's holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Continuum Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the first quarter valued at about $63,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 77.0% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 925 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 118,700.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,376 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 2,374 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 36.2% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,996 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $156,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 300.1% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,777 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 3,583 shares in the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on APAM. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective 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. Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen raised Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Artisan Partners Asset Management presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $41.90.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Trading Down 0.1%

Artisan Partners Asset Management stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $46.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 65,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 562,890. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 1.71. The stock's fifty day moving average is $46.41 and its 200 day moving average is $42.31. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 71.72% and a net margin of 23.87%.The firm had revenue of $282.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.3%. This is a boost from Artisan Partners Asset Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Artisan Partners Asset Management's dividend 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.