Ancora Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Key Points

• Ancora Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ares Management Corporation to $11.46 million, marking a 2.5% growth after acquiring an additional 1,898 shares during the first quarter.
• CEO Michael J. Arougheti and Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold significant shares of Ares Management, with sales totaling nearly $40 million and indicating a 17.05% decrease in the chairman's ownership.
• Ares Management announced a quarterly dividend of $1.12, with a corresponding annualized dividend of $4.48 and a payout ratio of 258.96%.

Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 78,195 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 1,898 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC's holdings in Ares Management were worth $11,464,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in Ares Management by 129.6% during the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,988 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Ares Management by 40.7% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,960 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,167,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 53,401 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $7,829,000 after buying an additional 2,171 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 99.5% during the 1st quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 31,765 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,657,000 after buying an additional 15,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 1st quarter valued at $667,000. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $195.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $189.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Ares Management Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:ARES traded down $2.68 on Friday, hitting $177.37. 1,638,780 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,245,163. Ares Management Corporation has a 12 month low of $110.63 and a 12 month high of $200.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.44. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $181.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $165.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 9.47%.The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is presently 258.96%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 196,197 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $35,078,061.63. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 1,424,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $254,693,149.02. This represents a 12.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 136,516 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.74, for a total value of $24,946,933.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 311,728 shares in the company, valued at $56,965,174.72. The trade was a 30.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,274,422 shares of company stock worth $408,064,869 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 36.86% of the company's stock.

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.