Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 3,147 Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 7.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 47,799 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,147 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $2,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 160,297 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 period. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 365,434 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 4.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,775,314 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $76,920,000 after purchasing an additional 82,868 shares during the period. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE APAM opened at $44.66 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.44 and a beta of 1.79. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a one year low of $37.89 and a one year high of $49.54. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

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 analyst estimates of $279.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.34%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is presently 91.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on APAM shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $39.50 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com raised Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Artisan Partners Asset Management currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.13.

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.