Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM – Get Rating) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.08.

APAM has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the company from $33.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, March 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Credit Suisse Group increased their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $29.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd.

Insider Transactions at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In other Artisan Partners Asset Management news, EVP Samuel Bentson Sellers sold 9,790 shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.11, for a total transaction of $353,516.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $562,160.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 19.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Artisan Partners Asset Management

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APAM. Sigma Planning Corp grew its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 2.1% in the second quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 36,610 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 26.7% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 75,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,698,000 after purchasing an additional 15,974 shares in the last quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 20.8% in the second quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,266 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 37.6% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,278 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brinker Capital Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.0% in the third quarter. Brinker Capital Investments LLC now owns 39,892 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,245 shares in the last quarter. 82.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

APAM stock opened at $30.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $34.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.19. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 52-week low of $25.67 and a 52-week high of $40.68.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $226.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $222.60 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 20.82% and a return on equity of 96.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 28.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 14th were paid a $0.90 dividend. This is an increase from Artisan Partners Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.98%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 13th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.09%.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Company Profile

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Artisan Partners Asset Management, Inc operates as an investment management company, which provides investment strategies to clients globally. It offers investment management services to institutions and through intermediaries that operate with institutional-like decision-making processes and have longer-term investment horizons, by means of separate accounts and mutual funds.