TD Private Client Wealth LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Ares Management by 67.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 worth $40,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avalon Trust Co purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,523,000. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought 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 directly owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,237,163.65. The trade was a 77.49 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 218,268 shares of company stock worth $37,431,786. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $147.95 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.67 billion, a PE ratio of 72.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. 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 data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

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.