Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. $APAM Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

Key Points

• AlphaQuest LLC reduced its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 39.3% during the first quarter, now owning 28,375 shares valued at approximately $1.11 million.
• Artisan Partners has announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.68 to $0.73, reflecting a dividend yield of 6.3% for shareholders on record as of August 15th.
• Analysts have varying ratings on Artisan Partners, with one upgrade to "buy" and a consensus price target set at $39.30, reflecting a mix of expectations among different financial institutions.

AlphaQuest LLC cut its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) by 39.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,375 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 18,385 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC's holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $1,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Continuum Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the first quarter worth about $63,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 77.0% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 118,700.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,376 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 2,374 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management in the first quarter valued at approximately $137,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 36.2% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,996 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In other news, CFO Charles J. Daley, Jr. sold 15,448 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.45, for a total value of $624,871.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 91,363 shares in the company, valued at $3,695,633.35. This trade represents a 14.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 12.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on APAM shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities increased their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.30.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of APAM stock opened at $46.6580 on Friday. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.75 and a fifty-two week high of $49.54. The stock has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.41 and a beta of 1.69. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 71.72% and a net margin of 23.87%.The business had revenue of $282.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $269.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.82 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.73 dividend. This is an increase from Artisan Partners Asset Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Artisan Partners Asset Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.66%.

Artisan Partners Asset Management 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.

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