Analyzing John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund (NYSE:HEQ) & Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM)

John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund (NYSE:HEQ) and Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund and Artisan Partners Asset Management’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A
Artisan Partners Asset Management	24.08%	73.11%	21.93%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund and Artisan Partners Asset Management”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund	$19.90 million	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Artisan Partners Asset Management	$1.20 billion	2.85	$290.32 million	$4.12	10.22

Artisan Partners Asset Management has higher revenue and earnings than John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

86.5% of Artisan Partners Asset Management shares are held by institutional investors. 11.3% of Artisan Partners Asset Management shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.5%. Artisan Partners Asset Management pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.6%. Artisan Partners Asset Management pays out 77.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund and Artisan Partners Asset Management, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund	0	0	0	0	0.00
Artisan Partners Asset Management	2	3	1	0	1.83

Artisan Partners Asset Management has a consensus target price of $38.00, indicating a potential downside of 9.78%. Given Artisan Partners Asset Management’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Artisan Partners Asset Management is more favorable than John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund.

Summary

Artisan Partners Asset Management beats John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund

John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC. The fund is co-managed by Wellington Management Company LLP. It invests in the public equity markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. It invests in stocks of companies across all market capitalizations. The fund also invests through derivatives such as call options and equity futures. John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund was formed on May 26, 2011 and is domiciled in the United States.

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. It manages separate client-focused equity and fixed income portfolios. The firm invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. It invests in growth and value stocks of companies across all market capitalization. For fixed income component of its portfolio the firm invests in non-investment grade corporate bonds and secured and unsecured loans. It employs fundamental analysis to create its portfolios. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. was founded in 1994 and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with additional offices in Atlanta, Georgia; New York City; San Francisco, California; Leawood, Kansas; and London, United Kingdom.