Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Short Interest Update

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,060,000 shares, a decrease of 20.8% from the February 28th total of 2,600,000 shares. Approximately 2.9% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 518,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. 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 for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Artisan Partners Asset Management presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $44.38.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter valued at $20,607,000. Channing Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,770,526 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $76,221,000 after acquiring an additional 224,455 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 98.2% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 439,057 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $18,901,000 after acquiring an additional 217,552 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3,041.5% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 150,730 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $6,495,000 after purchasing an additional 145,932 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,627,000. Institutional investors own 86.45% of the company's stock.

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Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of APAM traded down $1.45 on Friday, hitting $35.55. 281,660 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 446,310. The company has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 1.83. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a one year low of $34.20 and a one year high of $49.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.88.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.63%. Artisan Partners Asset Management's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.