Norges Bank Acquires New Position in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 130,714 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $5,627,000. Norges Bank owned 0.16% of Artisan Partners Asset Management at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 82.7% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 581 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 110.7% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 628 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 166.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,027 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 642 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the fourth quarter worth $57,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. 86.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on APAM. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $33.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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 report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Artisan Partners Asset Management has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.63.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:APAM traded up $0.41 on Tuesday, hitting $36.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 41,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 554,564. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.42. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.75 and a 1 year high of $49.54.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.54%. Artisan Partners Asset Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.31%.

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.