Centaurus Financial Inc. Trims Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Centaurus Financial Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 66.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 915 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,775 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the fourth quarter worth $205,499,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $149,083,000 after purchasing an additional 857,245 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 53.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,461,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $150,303,000 after purchasing an additional 506,935 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. now owns 934,360 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $111,114,000 after purchasing an additional 429,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cat Rock Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the fourth quarter worth $37,935,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 175,152 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.56, for a total value of $23,393,301.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 175,152 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.56, for a total value of $23,393,301.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.58, for a total transaction of $2,065,803.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $603,995.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,440,288 shares of company stock valued at $195,604,134 in the last three months. Company insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES stock opened at $135.00 on Thursday. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $90.29 and a 12 month high of $150.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $137.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.55. The stock has a market cap of $41.83 billion, a PE ratio of 60.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.93 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $707.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $814.88 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 earned $0.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 166.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $131.00 to $127.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $176.00 to $132.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.29.

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.