Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 15,957 Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 330,534 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 15,957 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.41% of Artisan Partners Asset Management worth $14,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,626,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $273,494,000 after purchasing an additional 160,297 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,742,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $118,824,000 after buying an additional 33,723 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,643,915 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $114,534,000 after buying an additional 154,536 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 25.3% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,812,080 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $78,499,000 after buying an additional 365,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,775,314 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $76,920,000 after acquiring an additional 82,868 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $39.50 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.13.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Shares of APAM opened at $43.97 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $46.40 and a 200-day moving average of $43.22. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.89 and a 1 year high of $49.54. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The asset manager reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $279.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $279.70 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.95% and a return on equity of 71.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio is 91.36%.

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.