Heartland Advisors Inc. Sells 26,690 Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Key Points

• Heartland Advisors Inc. reduced its ownership in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 14.2%, selling 26,690 shares and retaining 160,687 shares valued at approximately $6.28 million.
• Artisan Partners reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.83, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.76, with a net margin of 23.24% and revenue of $277.10 million.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.68, resulting in an annualized yield of 5.83%, despite a 75.14% payout ratio.

Heartland Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) by 14.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 160,687 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 26,690 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned 0.20% of Artisan Partners Asset Management worth $6,283,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in APAM. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 8,911 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $384,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 101,826 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,384,000 after acquiring an additional 5,065 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $852,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,097,132 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $348,582,000 after acquiring an additional 78,979 shares in the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE:APAM traded down $0.31 on Monday, reaching $46.34. 363,009 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 581,737. The company has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.75 and a 12 month high of $49.54. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $43.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.73.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) last released 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 business 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 23.24% and a return on equity of 73.48%. Artisan Partners Asset Management's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Artisan Partners Asset Management's payout ratio is 75.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on APAM. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities upped their price objective 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.10.

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.