Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Purchases New Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,457 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,284,773,000 after buying an additional 679,462 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 1.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,301,709 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $982,058,000 after acquiring an additional 63,851 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Ares Management by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $596,318,000 after acquiring an additional 187,184 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Ares Management by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,830,000 after purchasing an additional 18,773 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,950,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $459,580,000 after purchasing an additional 175,627 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ARES shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays dropped their target price on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 20,048 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 $3,356,837.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 229,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,503,162.88. This trade represents a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,523,000. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 633,100 shares of company stock valued at $111,492,196. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ares Management Stock Performance

ARES opened at $182.70 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $57.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $184.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $166.47. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $125.23 and a 52-week high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 5.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.