Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Shares Sold by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 74,807 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,903 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $3,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 82.7% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 581 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 110.7% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 628 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 166.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 86.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price 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 research note on Tuesday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Up 1.6 %

APAM stock opened at $40.26 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 1.83. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.92. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.89 and a fifty-two week high of $49.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating 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, sell-side analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.97%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.31%.

Artisan Partners Asset Management 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.