Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Takes $951,000 Position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 24,318 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $951,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in APAM. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 341,336 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $14,695,000 after purchasing an additional 10,802 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter valued at $200,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 430,619 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $18,538,000 after acquiring an additional 60,352 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 13,923 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp bought a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter valued at $202,000. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In other Artisan Partners Asset Management news, EVP Samuel Bentson Sellers sold 6,801 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.24, for a total transaction of $300,876.24. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Charles J. Daley, Jr. sold 15,448 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.45, for a total transaction of $624,871.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APAM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.90.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management stock traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $42.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 548,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 503,287. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $40.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a one year low of $32.75 and a one year high of $49.54. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.70.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $277.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $281.15 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.24% and a return on equity of 73.48%. Artisan Partners Asset Management's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.36%. Artisan Partners Asset Management's dividend payout ratio is presently 75.14%.

About Artisan Partners Asset Management

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.