Bayforest Capital Ltd Has $533,000 Stake in Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES)

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd significantly increased its stake in Ares Management, purchasing an additional 3,318 shares, bringing its total holdings to 3,638 shares worth $533,000.
• Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 85,000 shares for over $14 million, while CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 107,500 shares valued at approximately $17.3 million, indicating considerable insider selling.
• Ares Management declared a quarterly dividend of $1.12, equating to an annual yield of 2.38%, despite a high payout ratio of 263.53%.

Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 1,036.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,638 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 3,318 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd's holdings in Ares Management were worth $533,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ARES. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,258,519,000 after acquiring an additional 807,361 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Ares Management by 394.8% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 766,267 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $135,652,000 after purchasing an additional 611,414 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in Ares Management by 443.8% during the 4th quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 383,209 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $67,839,000 after acquiring an additional 312,742 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,727,597 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $659,896,000 after acquiring an additional 302,303 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,753,779 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,903,741,000 after purchasing an additional 223,919 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 107,500 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.34, for a total value of $17,344,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at $225,876,000. The trade was a 7.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 33,145 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.12, for a total value of $5,472,902.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 873,145 shares of company stock valued at $146,204,353 over the last three months. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ARES shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Ares Management from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Barclays increased their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wolfe Research set a $193.00 price objective on Ares Management and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Monday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $177.56.

Ares Management Price Performance

NYSE ARES traded up $4.93 on Monday, reaching $187.76. 807,829 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,658,905. Ares Management Corporation has a 12 month low of $110.63 and a 12 month high of $200.49. The company has a market cap of $61.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.40. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $174.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $166.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.49% and a net margin of 9.47%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 258.96%.

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.