Blue Trust Inc. Decreases Position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Blue Trust Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 22.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,862 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 524 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $81,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aviance Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 0.9% in the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 31,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.7% in the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 6,461 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position 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 valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trajan Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 12.2% in the third quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC now owns 5,608 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on APAM shares. StockNews.com lowered Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE APAM opened at $42.33 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.81. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.89 and a 12-month high of $49.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.88.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.08. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 74.02% and a net margin of 23.36%. Equities research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.31%.

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.