Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Boosts Holdings in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Ares Management Corporation by 5.5%, owning over 1.7 million shares valued at approximately $253 million at the end of the first quarter.
• Several analysts have varying perspectives on Ares Management, with Oppenheimer downgrading the stock to "market perform" while others, including Barclays, set an increased price target of $200.
• Ares Management recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.12 per share, with a record date of September 16, indicating a potential annualized yield of 2.5%.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 5.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,727,563 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 90,101 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.55% of Ares Management worth $253,278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 9.1% during the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 746 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 9.5% during the first quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC now owns 865 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 1.8% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,360 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $639,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 4.2% in the first quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,035 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Manhattan CO. LLC. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 17,628 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,121,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 177,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.61, for a total value of $31,779,898.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 865,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,589,991.37. This trade represents a 17.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 44,760 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.19, for a total transaction of $7,975,784.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,809,483 shares of company stock worth $325,460,792 in the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on ARES shares. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Oppenheimer cut shares of Ares Management from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Cfra Research raised shares of Ares Management to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted 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. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $182.73.

Ares Management Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of ARES stock traded down $3.30 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $176.48. 390,975 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,616,153. The firm has a market cap of $57.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.44. Ares Management Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $110.63 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.54.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is currently 258.96%.

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.