Gradient Investments LLC Trims Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Gradient Investments LLC cut its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 83,504 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,876 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $14,783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at $513,000. RFG Advisory LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 11,051 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,956,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 1,688 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth about $1,498,000. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 4,856 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $912,000 after buying an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES stock opened at $197.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $61.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.96, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $179.15 and a 200-day moving average of $161.74. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $117.47 and a 12-month high of $197.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 171.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 report on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $35,802,571.96. This trade represents a 6.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total value of $2,586,557.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 233,214 shares in the company, valued at $42,015,834.24. This represents a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 574,167 shares of company stock worth $99,996,647. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.