MetLife Investment Management LLC Buys 76 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,798,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 40.9% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,298 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 199.7% during the second quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,658,217 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $221,007,000 after buying an additional 3,321,434 shares in the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 2.8% during the second quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 26,914 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,587,000 after buying an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 7.4% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 711.1% in the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 1,015,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $134,996,000 after acquiring an additional 889,872 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on ARES. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ares Management from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $166.36.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES stock opened at $177.07 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $55.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $167.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.19. Ares Management Co. has a 1 year low of $107.69 and a 1 year high of $180.38.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 171.43%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.42, for a total transaction of $1,855,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 414,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,475,860.84. This trade represents a 2.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were 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 608,530 shares of company stock valued at $101,686,460 over the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.