Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Holdings Decreased by Fulton Bank N.A.

Fulton Bank N.A. lessened its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 271 shares during the quarter. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Ares Management by 67.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted 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 valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Ares Management during the second quarter worth approximately $78,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES opened at $182.21 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $175.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $158.20. 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 1 year low of $112.83 and a 1 year high of $185.06. The stock has a market cap of $57.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.97, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 171.43%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total value of $2,586,557.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 233,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,015,834.24. The trade was a 5.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total value of $20,599,471.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. This trade represents a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 614,167 shares of company stock worth $106,716,247. 41.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ARES. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ares Management from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $176.00 to $212.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. UBS Group boosted their price target 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.