Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on APAM. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Artisan Partners Asset Management currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.90.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

NYSE:APAM opened at $41.73 on Tuesday. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a one year low of $32.75 and a one year high of $49.54. The company has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.47 and a beta of 1.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $38.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.07. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.36% and a return on equity of 74.02%. The firm had revenue of $277.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $281.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In other news, EVP Samuel Bentson Sellers sold 6,801 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.24, for a total value of $300,876.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 40,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,002.96. This represents a 14.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 12.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in APAM. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 7.7% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 6,541 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 46.8% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 30,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after buying an additional 9,629 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 32.8% in the first quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 63,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,498,000 after buying an additional 15,792 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the first quarter valued at approximately $273,000. Finally, Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3,362.7% in the first quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 437,067 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $17,089,000 after buying an additional 424,445 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

About Artisan Partners Asset Management

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.