Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Raises Stock Holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) by 17.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 55,669 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 8,241 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.07% of Artisan Partners Asset Management worth $2,397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 82.7% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 581 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 208.6% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 574 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 110.7% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 628 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 166.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,027 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the fourth quarter worth $57,000. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on APAM. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. StockNews.com cut Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Securities raised their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.90.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

APAM stock traded up $1.44 during trading on Monday, hitting $42.26. The stock had a trading volume of 44,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 477,422. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.75 and a twelve month high of $49.54. The company's 50-day moving average price is $38.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.60. 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 $3.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 1.68.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $277.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $281.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders 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 6.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Artisan Partners Asset Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.14%.

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.