BluePath Capital Management LLC Grows Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

BluePath Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 16.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,733 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 968 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 59.3% in the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,171 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,553 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in Ares Management by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 46,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 416,585 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,529,000 after purchasing an additional 20,724 shares in the last quarter. Argent Trust Co raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 18,159 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 2,430 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARES has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.92.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of ARES opened at $184.40 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $57.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.98, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $112.83 and a 12 month high of $185.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $176.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $159.42.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released 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 business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.43%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 20,096 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total value of $3,364,874.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 229,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,495,125.76. This represents a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 20,048 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,356,837.12. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 229,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,503,162.88. The trade was a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 574,167 shares of company stock worth $99,996,647. Company 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.