Norges Bank Buys Shares of 130,714 Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 130,714 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $5,627,000.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on APAM shares. TD Cowen cut their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Trading Up 9.8 %

NYSE APAM opened at $37.16 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.75 and a 12 month high of $49.54. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 1.80. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.58.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 forecast that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.38%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.31%.

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.