Drake & Associates LLC Grows Stock Position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Drake & Associates LLC raised its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 31.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 40,174 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,518 shares during the period. Drake & Associates LLC’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $1,571,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 82.7% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 581 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 208.6% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 574 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 110.7% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 628 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 166.8% during 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. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter worth $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In related news, CFO Charles J. Daley, Jr. sold 15,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.45, for a total value of $624,871.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 91,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,695,633.35. This represents a 14.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Samuel Bentson Sellers sold 6,801 shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.24, for a total transaction of $300,876.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 40,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,002.96. This represents a 14.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of APAM stock opened at $46.49 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.84 and a beta of 1.70. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.75 and a fifty-two week high of $49.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.07. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.24% and a return on equity of 73.48%. The company had revenue of $277.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $281.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.85%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

APAM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.90.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Profile

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.