Candriam S.C.A. Takes $3.14 Million Position in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Candriam S.C.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 18,114 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $3,137,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Ares Management by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,189,991 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,813,445,000 after acquiring an additional 382,273 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,308,330 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,218,084,000 after purchasing an additional 30,451 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 7.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,280,000 after purchasing an additional 244,286 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in Ares Management by 0.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,902,603 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $278,941,000 after purchasing an additional 5,424 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in Ares Management by 5.5% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,727,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $253,278,000 after purchasing an additional 90,101 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARES has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $156.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $188.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.46.

Ares Management Stock Down 1.3%

ARES stock opened at $146.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Ares Management Corporation has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $158.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.94.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.05. Ares Management had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 9.47%.The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.8438 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 192.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 128,837 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.30, for a total transaction of $22,971,637.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,533,796 shares of company stock valued at $453,825,507. Insiders own 36.86% of the company’s stock.

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.