Plato Investment Management Ltd Makes New $212,000 Investment in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,918 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 166.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,027 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter worth $62,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 70.9% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 638 shares in the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on APAM. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

NYSE APAM opened at $40.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14 and a beta of 1.81. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.89 and a 52-week high of $49.54. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $43.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.08. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 74.02% and a net margin of 23.36%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.93%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.31%.

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.