Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Sold by Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 54.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,131 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 12,228 shares during the quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC's holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Ares Management by 104.8% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 170 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 53.4% in 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ARES. Oppenheimer raised Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $159.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $165.00.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $16,978,128.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,400,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $214,438,000. This trade represents a 7.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price 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. The trade was a 77.49 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 329,113 shares of company stock worth $54,409,915. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Stock Up 2.4 %

ARES opened at $160.87 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $110.63 and a 12 month high of $200.49. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $146.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.66. The stock has a market cap of $50.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is a positive change from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. 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.

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