Sei Investments Co. Increases Stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 101,826 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 5,065 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $4,384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

Shares of APAM opened at $40.26 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 1.83. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.89 and a 52-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. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $42.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.92.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Research analysts predict that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is currently 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.