Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Sells 1,727 Shares of Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Key Points

• Chesley Taft & Associates LLC reduced its stake in Ares Management Corporation by 13.2%, selling 1,727 shares, and now owns 11,370 shares valued at approximately $1,969,000.
• Ares Management announced a quarterly dividend of $1.12 per share, with a yield of 2.5% and a payout ratio of 258.96%, indicating a significant distribution of earnings to shareholders.
• Analyst upgrades for Ares Management include price target increases, with Barclays raising it to $200.00, while a consensus rating remains at "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $182.73.

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC cut its holdings in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,370 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,727 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ARES. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $292,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,274 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Man Group plc lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 39.2% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 26,400 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,674,000 after purchasing an additional 7,432 shares during the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Management in the 4th quarter worth approximately $207,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 25,175 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,456,000 after acquiring an additional 2,425 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 128,837 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.30, for a total transaction of $22,971,637.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,590,000 shares of company stock worth $464,430,639. 36.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on ARES. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ares Management in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Ares Management from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $195.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Cfra Research raised shares of Ares Management to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $189.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $182.73.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES stock traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $182.99. 2,112,012 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,602,478. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $166.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Ares Management Corporation has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The company has a market cap of $59.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.78, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.44.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 EPS 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 in the previous year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued 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 yield of 2.4%. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.