Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Hits New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• Artisan Partners Asset Management shares fell 4.2% to a new 52-week low after Royal Bank of Canada cut its price target from $45 to $43, despite maintaining an outperform rating.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly cautious, with one Buy, four Hold, and one Sell rating; the consensus price target is $36.25 versus the stock’s recent price near $32.
• The company reported quarterly EPS and revenue above estimates and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.80 per share, implying a 10.0% annualized yield.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week low on Monday after Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $43.00. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Artisan Partners Asset Management traded as low as $32.61 and last traded at $32.1280, with a volume of 31,313 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.46.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Evercore set a $36.00 target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Friday, July 10th. TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and set a $37.00 price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.25.

Insider Transactions at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In other Artisan Partners Asset Management news, EVP Gregory Ramirez sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $298,130.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 109,194 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 11.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,148 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 33,499 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,157,000 after buying an additional 3,319 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 73.2% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 14,200 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $490,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 39.8% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 66,967 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,312,000 after purchasing an additional 19,069 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,691 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Trading Down 4.2%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $39.51 and a 200 day moving average of $37.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The asset manager reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.03. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 73.11% and a net margin of 24.08%. The firm had revenue of $307.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $301.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.0%. This is an increase from Artisan Partners Asset Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Artisan Partners Asset Management's payout ratio is 77.67%.

About Artisan Partners Asset Management

Artisan Partners Asset Management, Inc NYSE: APAM is a global investment management firm that provides active investment strategies to institutional investors, financial intermediaries and private clients. The company operates through affiliated investment teams with distinct approaches, investment philosophies and areas of expertise.

Artisan Partners offers a range of equity, fixed-income and alternative investment strategies. Its products and services include separately managed accounts, mutual funds, collective investment trusts and other investment vehicles designed for institutions, wealth managers and individual investors.

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