Hantz Financial Services Inc. Cuts Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Hantz Financial Services Inc. cut its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 235 shares during the quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $2,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 14,022 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,482,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Ares Management by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,799 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 67.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,147 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,746 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $486,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total transaction of $20,599,471.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,259,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 20,096 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,364,874.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 229,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,495,125.76. This trade represents a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 574,167 shares of company stock worth $99,996,647. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Trading Up 2.5 %

ARES opened at $198.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $62.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $119.76 and a 52 week high of $199.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $163.45.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ARES. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $224.00 price target on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Ares Management from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.08.

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.