Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Shares Sold by Crescent Grove Advisors LLC

Crescent Grove Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,800 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $521,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of APAM. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 28.1% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 177,515 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,643,000 after purchasing an additional 38,951 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 934,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $41,288,000 after purchasing an additional 211,965 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management in the third quarter valued at about $1,208,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 30.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 361,111 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,513,000 after buying an additional 83,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ClariVest Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $879,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 17th. TD Cowen began coverage on Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $41.00 target price on the stock.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Shares of APAM stock traded down $1.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $41.94. 66,363 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 476,222. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.27 and a twelve month high of $46.75. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60 and a beta of 1.85. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.64.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.78. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 73.85% and a net margin of 22.80%. The company had revenue of $249.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $249.90 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Artisan Partners Asset Management’s previous None dividend of $0.65. This represents a dividend yield of 5.5%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.08%.

Insider Transactions at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In other news, EVP Gregory K. Ramirez sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.28, for a total value of $105,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 83,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,523,403.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 18.50% of the company’s stock.

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.