Renaissance Technologies LLC Makes New $8.43 Million Investment in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 47,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $8,427,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $444,103,000 after acquiring an additional 678,549 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 42.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 435,103 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,807,000 after purchasing an additional 129,611 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the third quarter worth $2,036,000. Morse Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Ares Management by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 14,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,187,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management by 53.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 10,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,655,000 after acquiring an additional 3,715 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $16,978,128.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,438,000. The trade was a 7.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. The trade was a 77.49 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ARES shares. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Oppenheimer upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $159.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JMP Securities upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.00.

Ares Management Stock Performance

NYSE ARES opened at $141.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $44.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.63, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $153.84 and a 200-day moving average of $168.44.

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

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.25%.

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.