Analyzing Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) and Barings Participation Investors (NYSE:MPV)

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) and Barings Participation Investors (NYSE:MPV) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and valuation.

Dividends

Artisan Partners Asset Management pays an annual dividend of $2.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Barings Participation Investors pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.6%. Artisan Partners Asset Management pays out 75.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Artisan Partners Asset Management and Barings Participation Investors”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Artisan Partners Asset Management	$1.11 billion	3.36	$259.75 million	$3.62	12.79
Barings Participation Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Artisan Partners Asset Management has higher revenue and earnings than Barings Participation Investors.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

86.5% of Artisan Partners Asset Management shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.5% of Artisan Partners Asset Management shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Barings Participation Investors shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Artisan Partners Asset Management and Barings Participation Investors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Artisan Partners Asset Management	1	4	1	0	2.00
Barings Participation Investors	0	0	0	0	0.00

Artisan Partners Asset Management presently has a consensus target price of $39.10, indicating a potential downside of 15.58%. Given Artisan Partners Asset Management’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Artisan Partners Asset Management is more favorable than Barings Participation Investors.

Volatility & Risk

Artisan Partners Asset Management has a beta of 1.7, meaning that its stock price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barings Participation Investors has a beta of 0.44, meaning that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Artisan Partners Asset Management and Barings Participation Investors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Artisan Partners Asset Management	23.24%	73.48%	19.18%
Barings Participation Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Artisan Partners Asset Management beats Barings Participation Investors on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

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. It manages separate client-focused equity and fixed income portfolios. The firm invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. It invests in growth and value stocks of companies across all market capitalization. For fixed income component of its portfolio the firm invests in non-investment grade corporate bonds and secured and unsecured loans. It employs fundamental analysis to create its portfolios. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. was founded in 1994 and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with additional offices in Atlanta, Georgia; New York City; San Francisco, California; Leawood, Kansas; and London, United Kingdom.

About Barings Participation Investors

Barings Participation Investors is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Barings LLC. The fund invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. It primarily invests in below-investment grade, long-term corporate debt obligations which are directly purchased from its issuers. The fund also seeks to invest in warrants, conversion rights, or other equity related instruments. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against Standard and Poor's Industrials Composite, Russell 2000 Index, Lehman Brothers U.S. High Yield Index, and Lehman Brothers Intermediate U.S. Credit Index. The fund was formerly known as Babson Capital Participation Investors. Barings Participation Investors was formed on April 7, 1988 and is domiciled in the United States.