WBI Investments LLC Makes New $368,000 Investment in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

WBI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 8,540 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $368,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,646 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $674,000 after purchasing an additional 4,485 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 341,336 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,695,000 after purchasing an additional 10,802 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management in the fourth quarter worth $255,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 60.8% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 42,759 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,841,000 after purchasing an additional 16,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 50,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,225,000 after acquiring an additional 7,966 shares during the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on APAM shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.90.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE APAM opened at $42.94 on Tuesday. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.75 and a 1 year high of $49.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $38.62 and its 200 day moving average is $42.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.80 and a beta of 1.68.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $281.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Artisan Partners Asset Management news, EVP Samuel Bentson Sellers sold 6,801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.24, for a total value of $300,876.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 40,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,793,002.96. This represents a 14.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 12.98% of the company’s stock.

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.