Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Lowered to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating, indicating a shift in sentiment regarding the stock's potential.
• Artisan Partners reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.83, slightly above the consensus estimate of $0.82, with revenues increasing 4.4% year-over-year.
• The stock has an average target price of $41.90, with the majority of analysts rating it as a hold.

Zacks Research cut shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, September 8th,Zacks.com reports.

APAM has been the subject of several other reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $43.50.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

APAM traded down $0.94 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $45.40. 159,502 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 561,183. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company's fifty day moving average price is $46.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.43. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 52-week low of $32.75 and a 52-week high of $49.54.

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

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This is a positive change from Artisan Partners Asset Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Artisan Partners Asset Management's payout ratio is 77.66%.

Institutional Trading of Artisan Partners Asset Management

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 246.7% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 48,106 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,134,000 after purchasing an additional 34,231 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 7.0% during the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 65,502 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,904,000 after acquiring an additional 4,273 shares during the period. Provident Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 10.9% during the second quarter. Provident Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,020 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $976,000 after acquiring an additional 2,170 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 0.3% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 100,605 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,460,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the second quarter worth approximately $522,000. Institutional investors own 86.45% of the company's stock.

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.