Investmark Advisory Group LLC Takes $223,000 Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Investmark Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ares Management by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,417 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,195,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 24.6% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 192,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,674,000 after acquiring an additional 38,047 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 5.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 682,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $106,436,000 after acquiring an additional 36,476 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Ares Management by 45.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 82,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,000,000 after purchasing an additional 26,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retireful LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $696,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ARES shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ares Management from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $166.36.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES opened at $174.10 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $166.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.62. Ares Management Co. has a twelve month low of $107.69 and a twelve month high of $180.38. The company has a market capitalization of $54.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.16, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 171.43%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.12, for a total transaction of $1,421,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 446,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,485,288.24. This trade represents a 2.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.05, for a total value of $10,728,750.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 666,030 shares of company stock worth $109,779,010 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 41.89% 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.