Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Short Interest Up 8.2% in August

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) saw a significant increase in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,050,000 shares, an increase of 8.2% from the July 31st total of 2,820,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 467,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on APAM shares. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com cut Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Monday, July 29th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 70.3% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 642 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC bought a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the first quarter worth $31,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

APAM opened at $41.59 on Monday. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 52-week low of $32.12 and a 52-week high of $46.75. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.09 and its 200-day moving average is $42.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 1.81.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.05). Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 71.76% and a net margin of 22.75%. The firm had revenue of $270.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.71 dividend. This is a positive change from Artisan Partners Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.83%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is presently 86.59%.

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.