Aviva PLC Sells 3,348 Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. $APAM

Aviva PLC decreased its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 22.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,260 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,348 shares during the period. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $499,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in APAM. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the first quarter valued at $33,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the 2nd quarter valued at about $57,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 24.1% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,282 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the second quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 77.0% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the period. 86.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $47.00 to $43.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Artisan Partners Asset Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.25.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Down 1.9%

APAM stock opened at $43.47 on Friday. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.75 and a twelve month high of $49.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $44.33 and its 200-day moving average is $44.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 1.74.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The asset manager reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.05. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 72.15% and a net margin of 22.90%.The business had revenue of $301.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $300.90 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. This is an increase from Artisan Partners Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.78%.

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.