14,578 Shares in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Bought by Meketa Capital LLC

Meketa Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 14,578 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $2,581,000. Ares Management comprises approximately 5.8% of Meketa Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $335,858,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Ares Management by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,258 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $126,622,000 after acquiring an additional 32,273 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Ares Management by 9.0% during the third 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. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Ares Management by 134.1% during the fourth quarter. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,300 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 5,900 shares during the period. Finally, Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth about $1,498,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ARES shares. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $142.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $216.00 to $161.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $159.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $174.50.

Ares Management Stock Up 4.4%

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $172.28 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $54.34 billion, a PE ratio of 84.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.40. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $110.63 and a 52 week high of $200.49. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.15. Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. The company had revenue of $951.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $914.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. Ares Management's payout ratio is 263.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $16,978,128.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $214,438,000. This trade represents a 7.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani purchased 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at $3,237,163.65. This represents a 77.49% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 250,180 shares of company stock worth $39,411,066 in the last quarter. 36.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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