Analysts Set Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Price Target at $39.30

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.30.

APAM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI reduced 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 research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Shares of APAM stock opened at $48.41 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $45.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 1-year low of $32.75 and a 1-year high of $49.54. The firm has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 1.69.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.01. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.87% and a return on equity of 71.72%. The company had revenue of $282.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.00 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.0%. This is a boost from Artisan Partners Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is 72.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Charles J. Daley, Jr. sold 15,448 shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.45, for a total value of $624,871.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 91,363 shares in the company, valued at $3,695,633.35. This trade represents a 14.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 12.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Artisan Partners Asset Management

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,646 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $674,000 after buying an additional 4,485 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 57,100 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,234,000 after buying an additional 6,508 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 1st quarter valued at about $275,000. Drake & Associates LLC increased its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 40,174 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after buying an additional 9,518 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 80.2% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 19,397 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $835,000 after buying an additional 8,633 shares during the period. 86.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.