Wesbanco Bank Inc. Sells 1,400 Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. cut its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aviance Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 31,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,361,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 41.8% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,004 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of 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. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 6,461 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on APAM shares. StockNews.com upgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $39.50 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Artisan Partners Asset Management presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.13.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

Artisan Partners Asset Management stock opened at $44.16 on Friday. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.89 and a 1 year high of $49.54. The company’s 50-day moving average is $45.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 1.80.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The asset manager reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $279.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $279.70 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.95% and a return on equity of 71.50%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.43%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 91.36%.

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.