Artisan Partners’ assets down for the quarter, year

Artisan Partners (APAM) Asset Management had $96.2 billion in assets under management as of Dec. 31, down 17.5% from three months earlier and down 16.7% from a year earlier, the company said Tuesday in its fourth-quarter earnings report.

The active money management company suffered net outflows of $4.9 billion in the fourth quarter vs. net outflows of $1.5 billion in the third quarter and net outflows of $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Market depreciation was responsible for $15.4 billion of the decline in total assets under management in the latest quarter compared to market appreciation of $3.9 billion in the prior quarter, the firm said.

Eric Colson, chairman and CEO, attributed the decline in the firm's AUM and high net outflows in the fourth quarter to investor derisking, noting during a conference call with analysts Tuesday that investors redeemed from the firm's equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.

Mr. Colson also pointed to combined net outflows of $8.4 billion from the firm's U.S. growth and value midcap equity strategies and its non-U.S. growth equity strategy in the year ended Dec. 31, in a commentary accompanying Artisan Partners (APAM)' earnings report.

Mr. Colson stressed in the commentary that outflows "overshadowed the organic growth across the rest of our business, which totaled nearly $1 billion for the year," adding "while we expect the decline of the midcap strategies to continue to weigh on overall flows, we have significant long-term growth potential across most of our strategies."

Artisan Partners' fourth-quarter revenue was $191.5 million, down 10% from the previous quarter and 9.1% lower than the year-earlier quarter.

Net income under GAAP was $32.5 million for the quarter, compared with $42.5 million in net income in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2017, Artisan Partners had a net loss of $27.5 million.