Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Holdings Lowered by Sprott Inc.

Sprott Inc. cut its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 369,595 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,000 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Asset Management accounts for approximately 0.9% of Sprott Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Sprott Inc.’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $15,911,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in APAM. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 70.9% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 638 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 22.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,218 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 52.7% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,386 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

APAM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

APAM stock opened at $42.34 on Wednesday. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a one year low of $37.89 and a one year high of $49.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.08. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.36% and a return on equity of 74.02%. On average, analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.72%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is currently 92.31%.

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.