Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) Stake Reduced by Phocas Financial Corp.

Phocas Financial Corp. decreased its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 85.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,301 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 103,894 shares during the period. Phocas Financial Corp.’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in APAM. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 70.9% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 638 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 22.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,218 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 52.7% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,386 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on APAM shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Up 0.6 %

APAM stock opened at $42.34 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.93. The company has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.81. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.89 and a 12-month high of $49.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.72%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio is 92.31%.

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.