Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. $APAM

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 6.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,599,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 497,356 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.47% of Artisan Partners Asset Management worth $297,151,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 113,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,884,000 after acquiring an additional 18,284 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 4,858.4% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 29,800 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,283,000 after acquiring an additional 29,199 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 40.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,646 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $674,000 after acquiring an additional 4,485 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the 4th quarter valued at $20,607,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 31,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after acquiring an additional 948 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Artisan Partners Asset Management has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In related news, CFO Charles J. Daley, Jr. sold 15,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.45, for a total value of $624,871.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 91,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,695,633.35. This represents a 14.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 12.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

NYSE:APAM opened at $46.34 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.75 and a fifty-two week high of $49.54. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 1.69. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.07.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.87% and a return on equity of 71.72%. The business had revenue of $282.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $269.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a boost from Artisan Partners Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.66%.

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.