M&G Plc Boosts Stock Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

M&G Plc grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 711.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,015,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 889,872 shares during the period. Ares Management makes up about 0.8% of M&G Plc’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. M&G Plc owned approximately 0.33% of Ares Management worth $134,996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Curated Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 199.7% in the 2nd quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,658,217 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $221,007,000 after acquiring an additional 3,321,434 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the first quarter worth $264,729,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at $205,499,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 216.3% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,253,644 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $149,083,000 after purchasing an additional 857,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,392,349 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,949,378,000 after acquiring an additional 631,334 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ARES. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $176.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $141.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Ares Management from $160.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.73.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of Ares Management stock traded up $1.20 on Tuesday, hitting $141.54. The company had a trading volume of 634,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,153,480. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $139.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $43.85 billion, a PE ratio of 63.66, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $96.00 and a 52 week high of $155.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $788.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $860.09 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 21.22%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 166.82%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In related news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.41, for a total value of $14,041,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,061,500. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 157,837 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.22, for a total value of $23,394,600.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,660,399.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.41, for a total transaction of $14,041,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,061,500. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 702,930 shares of company stock worth $97,948,044. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.