Phocas Financial Corp. Has $788,000 Holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

Phocas Financial Corp. cut its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 85.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm 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 SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the fourth quarter worth $62,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 70.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 638 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,218 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 52.7% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,386 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the period. 86.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Up 0.6 %

APAM opened at $42.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $43.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.93. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.89 and a fifty-two week high of $49.54.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.08. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a net margin of 23.36% and a return on equity of 74.02%. On average, analysts anticipate that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on APAM. TD Cowen raised 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 note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price target 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 downgraded shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.38.

Artisan Partners Asset Management 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.