Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Bought by Signaturefd LLC

Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,181 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $386,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 25.6% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 398 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co acquired a new stake in Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 41,757 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,393,000 after buying an additional 2,156 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 4,775 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $845,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Renasant Bank raised its holdings in Ares Management by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 4,313 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $764,000 after buying an additional 1,171 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Ares Management Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $147.19 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $46.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.51, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.85. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $125.23 and a 52 week high of $200.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. On average, research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. 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 3.04%. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 218,268 shares of company stock valued at $37,431,786 over the last 90 days. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.