Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Hits New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after TD Cowen lowered their price target on the stock from $37.00 to $33.00. TD Cowen currently has a hold rating on the stock. Artisan Partners Asset Management traded as low as $32.61 and last traded at $32.1280, with a volume of 31,313 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.46.

APAM has been the subject of a number of other reports. Evercore set a $34.00 price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research raised Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Artisan Partners Asset Management has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Gregory Ramirez sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $298,130.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 109,194 shares in the company, valued at $4,650,572.46. The trade was a 6.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 11.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Artisan Partners Asset Management

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 12.6% during the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,587,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $94,175,000 after acquiring an additional 289,105 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,704,243 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $58,848,000 after acquiring an additional 132,708 shares in the last quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 551,336 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $20,063,000 after purchasing an additional 113,491 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 101.7% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 218,013 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,933,000 after purchasing an additional 109,926 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 97.3% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 152,925 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,565,000 after purchasing an additional 75,426 shares during the period. 86.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a PE ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 1.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.86.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The asset manager reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $307.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $301.32 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 73.11%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a positive change from Artisan Partners Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.67%.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Company Profile

Artisan Partners Asset Management, Inc (NYSE: APAM) is a global investment management firm that provides active investment strategies to institutional investors, financial intermediaries and private clients. The company operates through affiliated investment teams with distinct approaches, investment philosophies and areas of expertise.

Artisan Partners offers a range of equity, fixed-income and alternative investment strategies. Its products and services include separately managed accounts, mutual funds, collective investment trusts and other investment vehicles designed for institutions, wealth managers and individual investors.