FIL Ltd Purchases 84,089 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

FIL Ltd increased its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 25.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 413,025 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 84,089 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned about 0.13% of Ares Management worth $73,118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ARES. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 31.2% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 22,750 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,545,000 after buying an additional 5,404 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $335,858,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,258 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $126,622,000 after acquiring an additional 32,273 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew 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 worth $1,284,773,000 after purchasing an additional 679,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 134.1% during the fourth quarter. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 5,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Ares Management from $216.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. JMP Securities upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price target on Ares Management from $217.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ares Management from $187.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,523,000. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915 over the last ninety days. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES stock opened at $142.58 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $160.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $169.26. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $110.63 and a 12 month 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 firm has a market capitalization of $44.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.24, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.32.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Ares Management 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.