Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on APAM. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 6th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.00.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

NYSE APAM opened at $40.23 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.61. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.03 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 1 year low of $32.75 and a 1 year high of $48.50.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The asset manager reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.15. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 24.26% and a return on equity of 73.73%. The company had revenue of $335.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $322.13 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a yield of 134.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is currently 100.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Artisan Partners Asset Management

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of APAM. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 32,467 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,323,000 after purchasing an additional 1,318 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 468,800 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $19,099,000 after acquiring an additional 44,316 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 170.8% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 16,219 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $661,000 after acquiring an additional 10,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 22,593 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $920,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Company Profile

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.