Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Acquired by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 103.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,315 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,192 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ares Management by 32.5% during the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,705,000 after purchasing an additional 4,996 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in Ares Management by 24.6% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 192,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,674,000 after acquiring an additional 38,047 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Ares Management by 45.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 82,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,000,000 after acquiring an additional 26,012 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $264,729,000. Finally, Retireful LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 2nd quarter valued at $696,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Up 1.7 %

ARES opened at $170.35 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $53.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.19, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Ares Management Co. has a one year low of $105.89 and a one year high of $175.74. The business’s fifty day moving average is $161.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $148.24.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 4.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 171.43%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In related news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 15,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.25, for a total transaction of $2,645,226.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 214,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,859,905.25. This represents a 6.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.24, for a total value of $2,646,573.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 214,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,802,571.96. This represents a 6.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 590,579 shares of company stock worth $89,737,173. 41.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ares Management from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.36.

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.