Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Shares Sold by Soltis Investment Advisors LLC

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 100,340 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,191 shares during the quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $4,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in APAM. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 25.3% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,812,080 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $78,499,000 after buying an additional 365,434 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the second quarter worth $10,685,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 22.0% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,122,086 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,609,000 after purchasing an additional 202,074 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 2.5% during 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 during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.2% in 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. 86.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on APAM. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $39.50 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price 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. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.13.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:APAM opened at $48.48 on Wednesday. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.89 and a 1 year high of $49.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.50 and a beta of 1.79. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $46.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.07. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The asset manager reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $279.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $279.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.77%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 91.37%.

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.