MJP Associates Inc. ADV Has $621,000 Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 21.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,506 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ARES. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Ares Management by 104.8% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 170 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Ares Management by 53.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Avalon Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ARES. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $159.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Ares Management from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total value of $16,978,128.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $214,438,000. This trade represents a 7.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 250,180 shares of company stock worth $39,411,066 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 36.86% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE ARES opened at $164.93 on Monday. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $146.41 and a 200-day moving average of $167.51. The firm has a market cap of $52.02 billion, a PE ratio of 81.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.40.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $951.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $914.00 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 263.53%.

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.