Mutual Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Mutual Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,856 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 620 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after buying an additional 679,462 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after acquiring an additional 678,549 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $229,056,000 after acquiring an additional 280,656 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $596,318,000 after purchasing an additional 187,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ares Management by 6.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,950,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $459,580,000 after purchasing an additional 175,627 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $292,425.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 253,214 shares in the company, valued at $44,312,450. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total transaction of $20,599,471.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647 over the last ninety days. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES opened at $197.39 on Friday. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $117.47 and a 12-month high of $197.53. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $179.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $162.17. The company has a market capitalization of $61.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.96, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on ARES shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.92.

About Ares Management

Ares Management Corporation operates as an alternative asset manager in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The company's Tradable Credit Group segment manages various types of investment funds, such as commingled and separately managed accounts for institutional investors, and publicly traded vehicles and sub-advised funds for retail investors in the tradable and non-investment grade corporate credit markets.