Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. $APAM

Key Points

• Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. significantly increased its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3,362.7%, acquiring 424,445 additional shares during the first quarter, bringing their total to 437,067 shares.
• Artisan Partners Asset Management recently reported earnings of $0.83 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and announced a dividend increase to $0.73 per share.
• Despite the positive earnings report, Wall Street analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Hold" for Artisan Partners, with target prices ranging from $41.90 to $51.00.

Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) by 3,362.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 437,067 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 424,445 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Asset Management makes up 1.1% of Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.54% of Artisan Partners Asset Management worth $17,089,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Petrus Trust Company LTA bought a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 1st quarter valued at about $480,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 4.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,479 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,626 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 69,357 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,712,000 after purchasing an additional 4,177 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 222.6% during the first quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 121,085 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,734,000 after purchasing an additional 83,551 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 24.9% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 138,628 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $5,421,000 after purchasing an additional 27,676 shares during the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Shares of APAM traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $46.46. The stock had a trading volume of 394,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,865. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36 and a beta of 1.71. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.75 and a 12 month high of $49.54. The business has a fifty day moving average of $46.43 and a 200 day moving average of $42.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $269.00 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This is a boost from Artisan Partners Asset Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.3%. Artisan Partners Asset Management's dividend payout ratio is 77.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on APAM shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday. Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Artisan Partners Asset Management has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $41.90.

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.