Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Purchased by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. lifted its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,773 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,278 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $6,510,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Management by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 10,520 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,862,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Ares Management by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Ares Management by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,181 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 398 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avalon Trust Co acquired a new position in Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth $53,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ARES. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.17.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $147.82 on Thursday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $125.23 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.62 billion, a PE ratio of 72.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $176.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.01.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.25%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,237,163.65. This represents a 77.49 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at $218,523,000. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 218,268 shares of company stock valued at $37,431,786. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management 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.