Berry Wealth Group LP Buys 582 Shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES)

Berry Wealth Group LP lifted its stake in Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) by 42.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,939 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the period. Berry Wealth Group LP’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 5.1% during the fourth 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. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Ares Management by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,753,779 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,903,741,000 after buying an additional 223,919 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Ares Management by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,277,879 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,465,433,000 after purchasing an additional 33,700 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,258,519,000 after purchasing an additional 807,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Ares Management by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,126,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $907,534,000 after purchasing an additional 66,671 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Management Stock Down 0.3%

ARES stock opened at $165.31 on Tuesday. Ares Management Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $110.63 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $161.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $53.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.38.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.15. Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.29% and a net margin of 9.73%. The firm had revenue of $951.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $914.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 263.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 182,108 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.07, for a total value of $30,971,107.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 350,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,640,827.88. The trade was a 34.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 85,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.79, for a total value of $14,347,150.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 873,145 shares of company stock worth $146,204,353. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ARES shares. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Ares Management from $216.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wolfe Research set a $193.00 price objective on Ares Management and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Oppenheimer downgraded Ares Management from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $142.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.94.

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.