Dark Forest Capital Management LP Increases Stock Holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. $APAM

Key Points

• Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. by 222.6%, acquiring 83,551 shares during the first quarter of the year, bringing total ownership to 121,085 shares valued at approximately $4.73 million.
• Artisan Partners Asset Management recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.73, representing a 6.2% annualized yield, which is an increase from the previous dividend of $0.68.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for the stock, with one rating it as a Buy, four as Hold, and one as Sell, reflecting a consensus rating of "Hold" with a target price of $39.30.

Dark Forest Capital Management LP lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) by 222.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 121,085 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 83,551 shares during the quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP owned about 0.15% of Artisan Partners Asset Management worth $4,734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.1% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,940,562 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $114,976,000 after buying an additional 167,930 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 24.0% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,970,796 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $77,057,000 after buying an additional 381,210 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.3% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,228,743 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $48,044,000 after buying an additional 39,578 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.0% in the first quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,066,936 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $41,717,000 after buying an additional 31,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 903,986 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $38,917,000 after buying an additional 20,456 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on APAM. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Artisan Partners Asset Management currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $41.90.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of APAM stock traded down $0.67 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.32. 406,246 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 409,019. The business's fifty day moving average is $46.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.75 and a 12-month high of $49.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 1.71.

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

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This is a positive change 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%. Artisan Partners Asset Management's payout ratio is currently 77.66%.

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.