Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Hits New 12-Month High at $45.94

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $45.94 and last traded at $45.68, with a volume of 83159 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $45.56.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on APAM shares. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $41.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 17th.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Up 0.5 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $42.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a PE ratio of 14.42 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78. The company had revenue of $249.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $249.90 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 22.80% and a return on equity of 73.85%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This is a boost from Artisan Partners Asset Management’s previous None dividend of $0.65. This represents a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 14th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Artisan Partners Asset Management news, EVP Gregory K. Ramirez sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.28, for a total transaction of $105,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 83,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,523,403.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 18.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Artisan Partners Asset Management

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,873,612 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $347,856,000 after buying an additional 75,304 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,876,994 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $219,926,000 after purchasing an additional 382,572 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,239,056 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $245,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248,940 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 71.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,431,994 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $95,602,000 after buying an additional 1,013,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 666.1% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,344,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $92,171,000 after buying an additional 2,038,663 shares during the last quarter. 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.