First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Makes New $275,000 Investment in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,024 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $275,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC increased 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 in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 208.6% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 574 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 110.7% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 628 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 166.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. 86.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on APAM. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.90.

Insider Transactions at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In other news, CFO Charles J. Daley, Jr. sold 15,448 shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.45, for a total value of $624,871.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 91,363 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,695,633.35. The trade was a 14.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Samuel Bentson Sellers sold 6,801 shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,002.96. The trade was a 14.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 12.53% of the company's stock.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Trading Down 1.7%

APAM traded down $0.71 on Friday, reaching $42.27. 665,615 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 497,302. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a one year low of $32.75 and a one year high of $49.54. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.73. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.61 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Artisan Partners Asset Management's payout ratio is currently 75.14%.

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.