Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Short Interest Update

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,640,000 shares, a growth of 20.5% from the March 31st total of 2,190,000 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 582,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Securities lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective 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, May 1st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Artisan Partners Asset Management presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.90.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

APAM traded down $0.34 on Tuesday, hitting $39.68. 148,431 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 474,908. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 52 week low of $32.75 and a 52 week high of $49.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.90 and a beta of 1.80. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $38.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.70. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.07. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.36% and a return on equity of 74.02%. 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 company posted $0.76 earnings per share. Artisan Partners Asset Management's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.85%. Artisan Partners Asset Management's payout ratio is currently 92.82%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Artisan Partners Asset Management

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in APAM. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the first quarter valued at about $2,045,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.1% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 80,412 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,144,000 after purchasing an additional 4,593 shares during the period. Napatree Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.8% in the first quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 16,843 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $659,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,228,743 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $48,044,000 after purchasing an additional 39,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the first quarter worth $277,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.45% of the company's stock.

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.