Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,710,000 shares, a growth of 9.3% from the October 15th total of 2,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 412,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APAM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $39.50 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Monday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Artisan Partners Asset Management currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.13.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Artisan Partners Asset Management

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aviance Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 0.9% in the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 31,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 41.8% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,004 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.7% in the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 8,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $341,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.0% in the second quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 10,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 81.5% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 775 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE APAM traded up $0.20 on Monday, hitting $46.87. 399,123 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 448,415. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $43.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 1.79. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 52-week low of $36.45 and a 52-week high of $49.52.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The asset manager reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $279.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $279.70 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 71.50% and a net margin of 23.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.00%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is currently 79.11%.

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.