Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $39.50 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.83.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Down 2.1 %

NYSE APAM traded down $0.92 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $43.20. 421,626 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 445,982. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.17 and a beta of 1.79. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.28. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 12-month low of $32.12 and a 12-month high of $47.08.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.05). Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 22.75% and a return on equity of 71.76%. The firm had revenue of $270.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Artisan Partners Asset Management

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in APAM. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 42.5% in the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,331,970 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $60,965,000 after acquiring an additional 397,424 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC purchased a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the second quarter worth $10,685,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the first quarter worth $9,907,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 2.5% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,626,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $273,494,000 after buying an additional 160,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management during the first quarter worth $7,287,000. 86.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.