Blair William & Co. IL Grows Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 23.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 94,093 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,880 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $16,657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ARES. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 67.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Ares Management by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Avalon Trust Co bought a new stake in Ares Management in the fourth quarter worth $53,000. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In related news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % 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, insider David B. Kaplan sold 69,526 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.99, for a total transaction of $11,192,990.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,474 shares in the company, valued at $4,906,009.26. The trade was a 69.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $145.07 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.25. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $125.23 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49. The firm has a market cap of $45.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. On average, analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 183.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on ARES. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.83.

Ares Management Company 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.