Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Sold by PFG Investments LLC

PFG Investments LLC lowered its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 121 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Ares Management by 9.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after acquiring an additional 679,462 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Ares Management by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $444,103,000 after acquiring an additional 678,549 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $229,056,000 after acquiring an additional 280,656 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,318,000 after buying an additional 187,184 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 6.3% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of ARES opened at $198.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $119.76 and a 12 month high of $199.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $181.57 and its 200-day moving average is $163.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.05 billion, a PE ratio of 91.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. The firm 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 company posted $0.83 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $292,425.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 253,214 shares in the company, valued at $44,312,450. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total transaction of $20,599,471.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,259,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $223,916,778.46. This trade represents a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 574,167 shares of company stock worth $99,996,647 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $224.00 price objective on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.08.

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.