Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC Raises Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,763 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ARES. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 67.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 11,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,798,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management by 53.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 1.4% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,070,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 3.9% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Management Trading Down 3.9 %

ARES stock opened at $175.24 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $158.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 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. Ares Management Co. has a twelve month low of $112.83 and a twelve month high of $185.06.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total transaction of $2,586,557.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 233,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,015,834.24. This trade represents a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 19,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.45, for a total value of $3,311,323.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 230,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,551,176.25. The trade was a 7.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 614,167 shares of company stock worth $106,716,247 over the last quarter. Company 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.