Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Cut to "Hold" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.63.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of APAM traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $35.50. The company had a trading volume of 533,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 460,260. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a one year low of $32.75 and a one year high of $49.54. The company's fifty day moving average price is $40.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.47. The company has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 9.75 and a beta of 1.80. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Artisan Partners Asset Management's dividend payout ratio is presently 92.31%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APAM. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Artisan Partners Asset Management in the 4th quarter worth $20,607,000. Channing Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 224,455 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $18,901,000 after purchasing an additional 217,552 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 3,041.5% during 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the fourth quarter worth about $5,627,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.45% of the company's stock.

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.