VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Makes New Investment in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. $APAM

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 28,850 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $996,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,048,225 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $124,185,000 after buying an additional 54,667 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,769,107 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $122,755,000 after buying an additional 12,356 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3,122.7% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,732,601 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $94,357,000 after buying an additional 2,647,808 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,587,946 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $94,175,000 after buying an additional 289,105 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,022,630 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $82,402,000 after acquiring an additional 30,515 shares in the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In related news, EVP Gregory Ramirez sold 7,000 shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $298,130.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 109,194 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,650,572.46. This trade represents a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 11.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on APAM shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research downgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore set a $36.00 target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $38.00.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management stock opened at $38.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.96 and a 1 year high of $47.06. The firm's 50-day moving average is $40.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.17. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 1.67.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The asset manager reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.03. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 73.11%. The business had revenue of $307.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $301.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This is a positive change from Artisan Partners Asset Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.4%. Artisan Partners Asset Management's dividend payout ratio is 77.67%.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Profile

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc is a global investment management company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Through its subsidiaries and investment teams, the company provides actively managed investment strategies to institutional investors, financial intermediaries and private clients.

The firm offers a range of equity, fixed-income and alternative investment strategies, including U.S. and international equities, emerging-market investments, credit and other specialized portfolios.

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