Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.90.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE APAM opened at $46.47 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36 and a beta of 1.71. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a fifty-two week low of $32.75 and a fifty-two week high of $49.54. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $46.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.36. 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 (NYSE:APAM) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $282.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $269.00 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 71.72% and a net margin of 23.87%.Artisan Partners Asset Management’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Artisan Partners Asset Management

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 57,100 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,234,000 after acquiring an additional 6,508 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $275,000. Drake & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 40,174 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after acquiring an additional 9,518 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 80.2% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 19,397 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $835,000 after acquiring an additional 8,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,190 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,018,000 after acquiring an additional 5,478 shares in the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.