Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Invests $255,000 in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the fourth quarter worth $62,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 70.9% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 638 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 22.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,218 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the fourth quarter worth $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

APAM opened at $43.16 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 1.83. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.89 and a twelve month high of $49.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $43.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.08. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.36% and a return on equity of 74.02%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on APAM shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Artisan Partners Asset Management currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.38.

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.