First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Purchases New Position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,024 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $275,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter valued at about $20,607,000. Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,770,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $76,221,000 after purchasing an additional 224,455 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 98.2% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 439,057 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $18,901,000 after buying an additional 217,552 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3,041.5% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 150,730 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,495,000 after buying an additional 145,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the fourth quarter worth $5,627,000. 86.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Shares of APAM opened at $42.54 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.75 and a 1-year high of $49.54. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.90.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $277.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $281.15 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 74.02% and a net margin of 23.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is 75.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on APAM. TD Securities lifted their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.90.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Samuel Bentson Sellers sold 6,801 shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was 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 now directly owns 40,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,002.96. This trade represents a 14.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Charles J. Daley, Jr. sold 15,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.45, for a total value of $624,871.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 91,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,695,633.35. The trade was a 14.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 12.53% of the company’s stock.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Company 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.