Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Receives Average Rating of "Reduce" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts give APAM an average “Reduce” rating: Two rate it a sell, three recommend holding, and one recommends buying. The average 12-month price target is $38.00, close to the reported share price of $38.06.
• Recent financial results exceeded expectations: Quarterly earnings were $0.94 per share versus the $0.91 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 8.9% year over year to $307.91 million.
• Artisan Partners increased its dividend to $0.80 per share quarterly, representing an annualized yield of about 8.4%. An executive sold 7,000 shares, while institutional investors collectively own 86.45% of the company.

Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Reduce" from the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.00.

APAM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore set a $36.00 target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Friday, July 10th.

Insider Activity at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In related news, EVP Gregory Ramirez sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $298,130.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 109,194 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,650,572.46. This represents a 6.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Artisan Partners Asset Management

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 279,067 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,369,000 after acquiring an additional 49,635 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 1st quarter worth about $1,135,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,670,380 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $60,782,000 after acquiring an additional 30,863 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 11.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 343,520 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $12,501,000 after acquiring an additional 33,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vestcor Inc grew its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 154.5% in the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 45,733 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,863,000 after purchasing an additional 27,762 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.45% of the company's stock.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Down 4.1%

Shares of NYSE APAM opened at $38.06 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 1.67. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 52 week low of $33.96 and a 52 week high of $47.06. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The asset manager reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.03. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 73.11%. The company had revenue of $307.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $301.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a boost from Artisan Partners Asset Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.4%. Artisan Partners Asset Management's dividend payout ratio is presently 77.67%.

About Artisan Partners Asset Management

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc is a global investment management company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Through its subsidiaries and investment teams, the company provides actively managed investment strategies to institutional investors, financial intermediaries and private clients.

The firm offers a range of equity, fixed-income and alternative investment strategies, including U.S. and international equities, emerging-market investments, credit and other specialized portfolios.

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