HB Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES)

Key Points

• HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Ares Management Corporation by 99.8%, now owning 4,923 shares valued at approximately $722,000.
• Ares Management reported a quarterly EPS of $1.09, exceeding expectations, and a revenue of $951.96 million during the quarter.
• The stock has received mixed analyst ratings with a current consensus of Moderate Buy and a price target averaging $177.50.

HB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 99.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,923 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 2,459 shares during the quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Ares Management were worth $722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Ares Management by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,753,779 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,903,741,000 after acquiring an additional 223,919 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Ares Management by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,258,519,000 after acquiring an additional 807,361 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Ares Management by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,126,442 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $907,534,000 after acquiring an additional 66,671 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Management by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,354,032 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $491,735,000 after acquiring an additional 152,169 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ARES shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Ares Management in a report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $177.56.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 107,500 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,400,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $225,876,000. This trade represents a 7.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 85,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.79, for a total transaction of $14,347,150.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 873,145 shares of company stock valued at $146,204,353 over the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Trading Up 2.5%

NYSE ARES traded up $4.56 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $187.39. The company had a trading volume of 760,720 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,658,524. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $174.04 and a 200 day moving average of $166.55. Ares Management Corporation has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.40.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 16.49%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a 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.