Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Short Interest Update

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,870,000 shares, a growth of 5.9% from the October 31st total of 2,710,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 408,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Artisan Partners Asset Management

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of APAM. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 81.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 775 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,004 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 735.9% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management in the 2nd quarter worth $63,000. 86.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management stock traded up $0.10 on Tuesday, reaching $49.20. The stock had a trading volume of 111,929 shares, compared to its average volume of 443,574. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $45.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $49.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.68 and a beta of 1.79.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The asset manager reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s payout ratio is 91.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on APAM. StockNews.com raised shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $39.50 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.13.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Company 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.