Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. $APAM Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.1%, owning approximately 7.6 million shares valued at about $297 million as of recent filings.
• Several institutional investors, including Envestnet Asset Management and Russell Investments Group, significantly increased their holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the same period.
• Artisan Partners Asset Management recently declared a boosted quarterly dividend of $0.73 per share, raising its annualized dividend yield to 6.3%.

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,599,776 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 497,356 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.47% of Artisan Partners Asset Management worth $297,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,646 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $674,000 after purchasing an additional 4,485 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 12.9% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 57,100 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,234,000 after purchasing an additional 6,508 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the first quarter valued at approximately $275,000. Drake & Associates LLC lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 31.0% during the first quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 40,174 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 9,518 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 80.2% during the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 19,397 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $835,000 after purchasing an additional 8,633 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.45% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. TD Securities lifted 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 research note on Thursday, May 1st. Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note 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 note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target 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 note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In other news, CFO Charles J. Daley, Jr. sold 15,448 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 91,363 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,695,633.35. This represents a 14.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 12.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of APAM traded down $0.4450 during trading on Thursday, reaching $44.7350. 138,439 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 578,790. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a PE ratio of 11.89 and a beta of 1.69. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.12. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.75 and a twelve month high of $49.54.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $282.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $269.00 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.87% and a return on equity of 71.72%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.82 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.5%. 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%.

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.