Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Upgraded 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 report report published on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

NYSE APAM opened at $40.38 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $42.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.90. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a fifty-two week low of $37.89 and a fifty-two week high of $49.54.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last released 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Artisan Partners Asset Management

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APAM. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 208.6% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 574 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 82.7% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 581 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 110.7% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 628 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 166.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,027 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 642 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the fourth quarter worth about $57,000. 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.