Northern Trust Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. $APAM

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp reduced its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 0.9% in Q1, now owning 895,909 shares valued at approximately $35.03 million.
• Artisan Partners recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.73 per share, increasing from the prior dividend of $0.68, representing an annualized yield of 6.2%.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on Artisan Partners' stock, with one "Buy," four "Hold," and one "Sell" rating, and a revised target price for the stock of $51.00.

Northern Trust Corp cut its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 895,909 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 8,077 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.12% of Artisan Partners Asset Management worth $35,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $114,976,000 after buying an additional 167,930 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 24.0% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 381,210 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $48,044,000 after purchasing an additional 39,578 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.0% during 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 period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 36.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 621,491 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $24,300,000 after buying an additional 164,612 shares during the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on APAM shares. Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.30.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:APAM traded down $0.53 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $45.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 117,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 567,559. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.75 and a 12 month high of $49.54. The company has a 50-day moving average of $46.23 and a 200-day moving average of $42.24. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.17 and a beta of 1.71. 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 (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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $282.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.00 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 71.72% and a net margin of 23.87%.Artisan Partners Asset Management's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. This is a boost from Artisan Partners Asset Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Artisan Partners Asset Management's payout ratio is presently 77.66%.

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.