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

Fmr LLC raised its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,301,709 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 63,851 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned approximately 2.01% of Ares Management worth $982,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter valued at $39,000. West Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 40.0% during the 2nd quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 2nd quarter worth about $53,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 80.4% in the 2nd quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 451 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 21.0% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 559 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ARES. UBS Group upped their target price on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 14,962 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.62, for a total transaction of $2,178,766.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,375,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,227,500. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 14,536 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.63, for a total transaction of $2,116,877.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 631,855 shares of company stock worth $101,967,913. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES opened at $174.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.54, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $165.19 and a 200-day moving average of $149.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $107.69 and a 12-month high of $180.38.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 171.43%.

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.