Sigma Planning Corp Acquires Shares of 4,694 Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Sigma Planning Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 4,694 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of APAM. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 25.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.2% during the 3rd 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. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,533,396 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $66,426,000 after buying an additional 99,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ibex Wealth Advisors bought a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,247,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE APAM opened at $42.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.59 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 $43.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.95.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is currently 92.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APAM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.38.

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.