Blair William & Co. IL Buys 17,880 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 23.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,093 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,880 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $16,657,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Ares Management by 36.9% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 61,170 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,533,000 after purchasing an additional 16,499 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 181.7% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 10,117 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after purchasing an additional 6,525 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 14,928 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,326,000 after purchasing an additional 2,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 22,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,471,000 after buying an additional 949 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ARES shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.83.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $145.07 on Friday. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $172.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.25. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $125.23 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The firm has a market cap of $45.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly 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%. Analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,237,163.65. The trade was a 77.49 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,523,000. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915. Company 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.