AHL Investment Management Inc. Invests $225,000 in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

AHL Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,269 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,799 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 67.0% in 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. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,746 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $486,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Ares Management by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 11,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ARES shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com lowered Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.92.

Ares Management Stock Up 2.0 %

NYSE:ARES opened at $191.69 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $60.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $177.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $160.50. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $112.83 and a 52-week high of $192.01.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.24, for a total transaction of $2,646,573.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 214,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,802,571.96. This represents a 6.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total transaction of $2,586,557.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 233,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,015,834.24. This represents a 5.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 574,167 shares of company stock worth $99,996,647. Company insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

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.