Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

APAM has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Artisan Partners Asset Management stock opened at $44.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.67. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 12 month low of $37.89 and a 12 month high of $49.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of 12.49 and a beta of 1.81.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.08. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.95% and a return on equity of 71.50%. Equities analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.46%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 91.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Artisan Partners Asset Management

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the fourth quarter worth $20,607,000. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the fourth quarter valued at $361,000. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 20,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $863,000 after buying an additional 2,057 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,189,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $51,194,000 after buying an additional 67,079 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,772,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $119,362,000 after buying an additional 128,717 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.