Phocas Financial Corp. Reduces Stock Holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Phocas Financial Corp. lessened its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 122,195 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,616 shares during the period. Phocas Financial Corp. owned approximately 0.15% of Artisan Partners Asset Management worth $5,293,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,685,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,122,086 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,609,000 after buying an additional 202,074 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 worth $273,494,000 after purchasing an additional 160,297 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the second quarter worth approximately $4,531,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,434,391 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $59,197,000 after acquiring an additional 102,421 shares during the period. 86.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on APAM shares. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Evercore ISI upped 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 research note 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.13.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:APAM opened at $46.89 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.45 and a 52-week high of $49.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $44.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.67. The company has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 1.79.

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

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 91.37%.

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.