Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Holdings Raised by World Investment Advisors

World Investment Advisors grew its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 22.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,078 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,118 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of APAM. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the fourth quarter valued at $20,607,000. Channing Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,770,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $76,221,000 after acquiring an additional 224,455 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management in the 4th quarter worth about $5,627,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,772,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $119,362,000 after acquiring an additional 128,717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ibex Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management in the 4th quarter worth about $4,247,000. 86.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price 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. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE APAM opened at $37.16 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 1.80. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.58. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.75 and a 52 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.31%.

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.