Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Sold by CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC

CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,846,243 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 18,362 shares during the quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC owned 0.59% of Ares Management worth $336,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ares Management during the 4th quarter worth $381,365,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the fourth quarter worth about $335,858,000. TD Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 4,557.2% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,304,759 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $230,981,000 after buying an additional 1,276,743 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,807,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,329,530,000 after buying an additional 907,757 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARES. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays lowered their target price on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In related news, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,237,163.65. This trade represents a 77.49 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 329,113 shares of company stock worth $54,409,915 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Performance

ARES stock opened at $145.07 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $172.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.46. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $125.23 and a 12-month high of $200.49. The firm has a market cap of $45.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 183.25%.

Ares Management Company Profile

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.