Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) saw a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,600,000 shares, a decrease of 11.0% from the September 15th total of 2,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 441,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE APAM traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $45.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 443,920. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 12 month low of $32.12 and a 12 month high of $46.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.88 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.27.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $270.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.70 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 71.76% and a net margin of 22.75%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.19%. This is a boost from Artisan Partners Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.59%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Artisan Partners Asset Management

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,873,612 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $347,856,000 after acquiring an additional 75,304 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 6,626,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $273,494,000 after purchasing an additional 160,297 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 4.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,617,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $66,757,000 after purchasing an additional 74,393 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 7.7% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,434,391 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $59,197,000 after purchasing an additional 102,421 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 1.7% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 920,012 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $37,969,000 after purchasing an additional 15,446 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in a research note on Monday, July 29th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $39.50 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.83.

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.