Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) EVP Sells $300,876.24 in Stock

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) EVP Samuel Bentson Sellers sold 6,801 shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 40,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,002.96. This represents a 14.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

NYSE APAM opened at $43.51 on Friday. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.75 and a 52-week high of $49.54. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a fifty day moving average of $38.53 and a 200-day moving average of $42.59.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.07. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.36% and a return on equity of 74.02%. The company had revenue of $277.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $281.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on APAM. 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. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.90.

Institutional Trading of Artisan Partners Asset Management

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,838 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $208,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 15,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $609,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Napatree Capital LLC lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.8% in the first quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 16,843 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $659,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 120,023 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,167,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.