WBI Investments LLC Invests $368,000 in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

WBI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 8,540 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $368,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of 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. increased 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. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter worth approximately $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Samuel Bentson Sellers sold 6,801 shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 40,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,002.96. The trade was a 14.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 12.98% of the company’s stock.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Down 1.4%

APAM opened at $42.94 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.80 and a beta of 1.68. 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 one year low of $32.75 and a one year high of $49.54.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $277.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $281.15 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.36% and a return on equity of 74.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Equities research 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 will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.33%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on APAM shares. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.90.

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.