Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $49.54 and last traded at $49.29, with a volume of 22978 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $49.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on APAM. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on 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. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Artisan Partners Asset Management currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.13.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $45.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a PE ratio of 13.59 and a beta of 1.79.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The asset manager reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $279.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $279.70 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.95% and a return on equity of 71.50%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.72%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is 91.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in APAM. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,799 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 3,147 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the third quarter valued at about $1,801,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 4.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,775,314 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $76,920,000 after purchasing an additional 82,868 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $205,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 430,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,646,000 after purchasing an additional 2,455 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.