Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Has $1.06 Million Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 12.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,063,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,417 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,195,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Ares Management by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 682,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $106,436,000 after acquiring an additional 36,476 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in Ares Management by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 22,750 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,545,000 after acquiring an additional 5,404 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Ares Management during the 4th quarter worth $335,858,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ares Management by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,284,773,000 after acquiring an additional 679,462 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 69,526 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,906,009.26. The trade was a 69.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This trade represents a 77.49 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 218,268 shares of company stock valued at $37,431,786. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE ARES opened at $147.19 on Friday. 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 $125.23 and a twelve month high of $200.49. The company has a market cap of $46.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s fifty day moving average is $175.88 and its 200 day moving average is $169.85.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

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.