Royce & Associates LP Sells 18,318 Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Royce & Associates LP reduced its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 1.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,031,513 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 18,318 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $44,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 41.8% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,004 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.7% in the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 8,255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.0% in the second quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 10,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 81.5% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 775 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. Finally, Arden Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.5% during the second quarter. Arden Trust Co now owns 26,391 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:APAM opened at $47.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $43.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.58. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.45 and a 1 year high of $49.52.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The asset manager reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 71.50% and a net margin of 23.95%. The firm had revenue of $279.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $279.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.86%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on APAM shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $39.50 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.13.

Artisan Partners Asset Management 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.