Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Artisan Partners Asset Management has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of APAM opened at $40.38 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 12 month low of $37.89 and a 12 month high of $49.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $42.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.90. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 1.83.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS 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%. Analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.31%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Artisan Partners Asset Management

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of APAM. Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 17,993 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $779,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 71.3% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 11,378 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $493,000 after purchasing an additional 4,736 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,218 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 308,372 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,358,000 after acquiring an additional 33,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 136,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,918,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during 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.