Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Purchased by Diversified Trust Co

Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,008 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,220 shares during the quarter. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $3,011,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 15,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,686,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth approximately $749,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Ares Management by 53.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Ares Management by 67.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of ARES opened at $178.63 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.92 billion, a PE ratio of 82.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.86. Ares Management Co. has a 1 year low of $112.83 and a 1 year high of $185.06.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $833.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 171.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 18,329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.18, for a total value of $3,210,874.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 254,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,650,754.30. This trade represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 614,167 shares of company stock valued at $106,716,247 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARES has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ares Management from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $176.00 to $212.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ares Management from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.33.

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.