MetLife Investment Management LLC Has $1.63 Million Holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM)

MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE:APAM) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,846 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,504 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Artisan Partners Asset Management were worth $1,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in APAM. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 213,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,213,000 after buying an additional 40,479 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management by 36.0% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 72,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,139,000 after acquiring an additional 19,304 shares during the period. Farringdon Capital Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management during the 4th quarter worth $482,000. Zacks Investment Management bought a new position in shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management in the fourth quarter worth $1,175,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC raised its stake in Artisan Partners Asset Management by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 57,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,466,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Stock Performance

NYSE APAM opened at $37.53 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $38.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.91. The stock has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a PE ratio of 10.31 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.56. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.75 and a fifty-two week high of $49.54.

Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $277.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $281.15 million. Artisan Partners Asset Management had a return on equity of 74.02% and a net margin of 23.36%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.33%. Artisan Partners Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on APAM. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Artisan Partners Asset Management from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Artisan Partners Asset Management from $40.00 to $33.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Artisan Partners Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.63.

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.