Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Boosts Stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 67,047.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 253,816 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 253,438 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $9,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,097,132 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $348,582,000 after acquiring an additional 78,979 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,772,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $119,362,000 after acquiring an additional 128,717 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,813,598 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $78,092,000 after acquiring an additional 38,284 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,770,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $76,221,000 after acquiring an additional 224,455 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,189,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $51,194,000 after acquiring an additional 67,079 shares during the period. 86.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on APAM shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Artisan Partners Asset Management

In related news, CFO Charles J. Daley, Jr. sold 15,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.45, for a total transaction of $624,871.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 91,363 shares in the company, valued at $3,695,633.35. The trade was a 14.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Samuel Bentson Sellers sold 6,801 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.24, for a total transaction of $300,876.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 40,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,002.96. This represents a 14.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Shares of APAM opened at $41.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 1.70. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.75 and a twelve month high of $49.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $38.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.89.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $277.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $281.15 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.36% and a return on equity of 74.02%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.58%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.14%.

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.