Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 441,610 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 10,261 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.55% of Artisan Partners Asset Management worth $19,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of APAM. State Street Corp increased its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,742,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $118,824,000 after purchasing an additional 33,723 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 154,536 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 365,434 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 4.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,775,314 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $76,920,000 after purchasing an additional 82,868 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,589,586 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $68,432,000 after purchasing an additional 56,190 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on APAM shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Artisan Partners Asset Management presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Artisan Partners Asset Management stock opened at $42.40 on Tuesday. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.89 and a 52-week high of $49.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $43.13 and a 200-day moving average of $44.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.65 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is 92.31%.

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.