Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Lowers Position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 80.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,664 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 22,911 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 138.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,817,495 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,980,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,748 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 137.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,749,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013,988 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,521,140 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $45,178,000 after purchasing an additional 458,383 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,876,994 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $219,926,000 after purchasing an additional 382,572 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,990,116 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $159,584,000 after purchasing an additional 325,123 shares during the period. 89.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on APAM. StockNews.com downgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. TheStreet downgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Thursday, September 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.75.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE APAM opened at $36.28 on Monday. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.70 and a 52 week high of $42.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $2.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 1.84.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.28. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 74.68% and a net margin of 22.10%. The business had revenue of $248.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.17%. This is a boost from Artisan Partners Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.33%.

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.