Should I Buy APAM? APAM 2026 Analysis

Should You Buy Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc (APAM) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Conclusion

Buy

Latest Price

45.120

1 Day change

1.83%

52 Week Range

48.500

Analysis Updated At

2026/02/05

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Buy now (pre-market ~44.54): trend structure is bullish (SMA_5 > SMA_20 > SMA_200) and price is holding just above the pivot (44.255), favoring a near-term push toward 45.66 (R1) and potentially 46.53 (R2).
Options positioning is bullish (puts relatively light vs calls) with unusually elevated activity, supporting upside follow-through after strong earnings/news.
Fundamentals/news are a near-term tailwind: Q4 beat and strong 2025 investment performance can attract flows and sentiment quickly.
Offsets: no Intellectia buy signal today and pattern-based stats show weakness over the next week/month, so this is best treated as a tactical buy now (momentum/earnings follow-through) rather than a high-conviction multi-week entry.

Technical Analysis

Trend: Bullish moving-average stack (SMA_5 > SMA_20 > SMA_200) suggests an established uptrend.
MACD: Histogram positive (0.0306) but contracting, indicating bullish momentum is still present but cooling (watch for re-acceleration).
RSI (6): 48.27 (neutral) — not overbought, leaving room for upside continuation if buyers step in.
Key levels:
- Pivot: 44.255 (pre-market ~44.54 is slightly above)
- Support: 42.85 (S1) then 41.981 (S2)
- Resistance: 45.661 (R1) then 46.53 (R2)
Pattern-based short-term odds (similar candlesticks): ~+3.24% next day, but -0.09% next week and -2.28% next month → supports a near-term trade, less supportive for holding weeks.

Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals

AI Stock Picker: no signal on given stock today.
SwingMax: No signal on given stock recently.

Options Data

Bullish

Open Interest Put-Call Ratio

Bullish

Option Volume Put-Call Ratio

Sentiment skew: Put/Call ratios are low (OI PCR 0.42, Volume PCR 0.33) → options market leaning bullish.
Activity: Today’s option volume is elevated (~180% vs 30D avg) and open interest is also elevated (~150% vs avg) → increased attention/positioning.
Volatility: IV is relatively muted (30D IV ~25.79 vs HV ~27.53) with low IV percentile (16.4) / IV rank (4.5) → options pricing suggests no major fear premium, consistent with constructive sentiment.

Technical Summary

Sell

Buy

Positive Catalysts

- Strong Q4 result: GAAP EPS $1.32 (beat by $0.22) and revenue $335.5M (+13% YoY per news).
- Strong quarterly growth snapshot (2025/Q4): Revenue +16.84% YoY, Net Income +49.37% YoY, EPS +36.08% YoY.
- 2025 performance headline: reported 20%+ net investment returns and 8% revenue growth narrative supports client/asset-gathering sentiment.
- Options skew bullish (low put-call ratios) can amplify upside if spot price starts moving through resistance.

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

- Momentum is not accelerating: MACD histogram is positive but contracting, implying the rally may need a fresh catalyst to extend.
- Quant/pattern outlook: signals tilt down over the next week/month despite a positive next-day bias.
- Positioning/flow indicators: Hedge funds and insiders are reported neutral (no clear accumulation signal).
- Analyst data quality/consistency issue: multiple items reference Aperam (not APAM), and the remaining APAM note shows a cautious stance; this reduces confidence in the “Street view” dataset.

Financial Performance

Latest quarter: 2025/Q4
- Revenue: $350.7M (+16.84% YoY) — accelerating top-line.
- Net income: $94.8M (+49.37% YoY) — strong operating leverage/profit expansion.
- EPS: 1.32 (+36.08% YoY) — solid earnings momentum.
Overall read: growth trend is improving (profits growing faster than revenue), supportive for near-term price strength post-earnings.

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

Recent trend (as provided) is mixed and somewhat unreliable because several entries are clearly about Aperam (European steel) rather than Artisan Partners (APAM).
APAM-relevant item: TD Cowen reiterated Hold with a $10 target after AUM data; both the tone and target appear inconsistent with the current ~$44 price, suggesting either stale/incorrect mapping or an outlier.
Wall Street pros (inferred from the usable data + context): cautious on near-term flows/AUM sensitivity; prefers to wait for clearer asset-growth reacceleration.
Wall Street cons (from fundamentals/news): the latest quarter and performance headlines are strong, which argues the fundamental tape is better than a strict “hold” stance implies.
Influential/political trading: No recent congress trading data available; no politician activity indicated in the dataset.

4 Analyst Rating

Wall Street analysts forecast APAM stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for APAM is 45.75 USD with a low forecast of 42 USD and a high forecast of 51 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

1 Buy

2 Hold

1 Sell

Hold

Current: 44.310

Low

Averages

45.75

High

Current: 44.310

Low

Averages

45.75

High

Morgan Stanley

Adahna Ekoku

Equal Weight -> Overweight

upgrade

AI Analysis

2025-12-15

Reason

Morgan Stanley

Adahna Ekoku

Price Target

AI Analysis

2025-12-15

upgrade

Equal Weight -> Overweight

Reason

Morgan Stanley analyst Adahna Ekoku upgraded Aperam to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of EUR 40, up from EUR 31.50. As policy measures offer a floor, sentiment is turning more constructive on European stainless, the analyst tells investors.

TD Cowen

Hold

maintain

$10

2025-12-09

Reason

TD Cowen

Price Target

$10

2025-12-09

maintain

Hold

Reason

TD Cowen keeps a Hold rating and $10 price target on Artisan Partners after the company reported November assets under management data. The results "modestly" lagged the firm's model and also featured a 2.7B growth equities attrition into early December, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm expects the stock to trade lower on Wednesday.

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APAM Should I Buy

APAM Should I Buy

Should You Buy Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc (APAM) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Technical Analysis

Options Data

Technical Summary

Positive Catalysts

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

Financial Performance

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

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