Brokerages Set Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Price Target at $37.90

Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $37.90.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on APAM shares. Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities boosted their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on 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.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:APAM traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $40.58. 215,606 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 582,379. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.34. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a twelve month low of $32.75 and a twelve month high of $49.54. The stock has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.13 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Artisan Partners Asset Management's payout ratio is 75.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In related news, EVP Samuel Bentson Sellers sold 6,801 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.24, for a total transaction of $300,876.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,529 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,793,002.96. This represents a 14.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 12.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Artisan Partners Asset Management

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in APAM. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,607,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $17,671,000. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3,362.7% during the 1st quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 437,067 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $17,089,000 after buying an additional 424,445 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 24.0% during the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,970,796 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $77,057,000 after buying an additional 381,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 67,047.1% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 253,816 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,924,000 after buying an additional 253,438 shares during the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Artisan Partners Asset Management

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.