Dark Forest Capital Management LP Raises Position in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Key Points

• Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its stake in Ares Management Corporation by 133.0%, acquiring an additional 13,843 shares, bringing their total to 24,250 shares valued at $3,555,000.
• Wall Street analysts have shown optimism for Ares Management, with 13 Buy ratings and a consensus price target of $182.73, while Royal Bank Of Canada recently raised its price target to $215.00.
• Ares Management also announced a quarterly dividend of $1.12 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 2.5%, although its payout ratio stands at 258.96%.

Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 133.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,250 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 13,843 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP's holdings in Ares Management were worth $3,555,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 746 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC now owns 865 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,360 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $639,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,035 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 17,628 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,121,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARES. Oppenheimer cut Ares Management from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Ares Management from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Cfra Research raised Ares Management to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Ares Management from $195.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

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

Ares Management Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of ARES stock traded down $2.68 on Friday, hitting $177.37. The company had a trading volume of 1,638,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,245,163. Ares Management Corporation has a twelve month low of $110.63 and a twelve month 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 stock's 50-day moving average is $181.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $165.36. The firm has a market cap of $57.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 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 net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. 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 earned $0.99 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.