Optimist Retirement Group LLC Has $842,000 Position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. $APAM

Optimist Retirement Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 59.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 20,662 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 29,931 shares during the quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 0.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,714,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $334,820,000 after purchasing an additional 52,644 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 0.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,769,107 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $122,755,000 after buying an additional 12,356 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.0% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,625,936 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $70,566,000 after buying an additional 16,437 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 15.0% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,573,381 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $68,285,000 after buying an additional 205,380 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.5% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,502,287 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,199,000 after buying an additional 22,790 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APAM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $39.00 to $34.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Evercore set a $37.00 price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.25.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

Shares of APAM opened at $37.95 on Wednesday. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.99 and a 12 month high of $48.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.61 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The asset manager reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.04). Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 72.99% and a net margin of 23.49%.The firm had revenue of $303.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $304.01 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio is 77.97%.

About Artisan Partners Asset Management

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc is a global investment management firm that specializes in active, fundamental research-driven strategies across a range of equity, fixed income and alternative asset classes. Founded in 1994 by Andrew Ziegler, the company has built a reputation for its team-based approach to portfolio construction, emphasizing deep sector expertise and independent analysis. Its product lineup includes U.S. and international equity strategies, global emerging markets, as well as credit and multisector fixed income offerings.

Artisan Partners serves a diverse client base that spans institutional investors, intermediaries and high-net-worth individuals located in North America, Europe and Asia.