Creative Planning Sells 3,953 Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Creative Planning trimmed its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 32.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,143 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,953 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. MCF Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 81.5% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 775 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 246.7% in the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,054 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 65.1% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,080 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $39.50 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.83.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management stock opened at $46.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.12 and a twelve month high of $46.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.30.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $270.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.70 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 22.75% and a return on equity of 71.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.13%. This is a positive change from Artisan Partners Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is presently 86.59%.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Company 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.