Barclays PLC Has $30.95 Million Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Barclays PLC decreased its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 59.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 174,817 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 260,286 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $30,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at $335,858,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,258 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $126,622,000 after acquiring an additional 32,273 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after acquiring an additional 679,462 shares in the last quarter. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Ares Management by 134.1% during the fourth quarter. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 5,900 shares during the period. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $749,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 69,526 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.99, for a total transaction of $11,192,990.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,474 shares in the company, valued at $4,906,009.26. This trade represents a 69.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ARES. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. 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 report on Friday, April 4th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Ares Management from $216.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JMP Securities raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $165.00.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Ares Management stock opened at $141.35 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $152.94 and a 200-day moving average of $168.34. The company has a market capitalization of $44.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.32. Ares Management Co. has a 1 year low of $110.63 and a 1 year high of $200.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (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, equities research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 183.25%.

Ares Management Company 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.