JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Position in Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES)

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ares Management Corporation by 0.4%, holding approximately 8.3 million shares valued at about $1.22 billion as of the latest SEC filing.
• Ares Management recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.12, with a yield of 2.4%, and has a high payout ratio of 258.96%.
• Analysts have diverse opinions on ARES, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $178.19, despite some recent adjustments to price objectives from firms like Morgan Stanley and Barclays.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,308,330 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 30,451 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 2.63% of Ares Management worth $1,218,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its position in Ares Management by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 5,446 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $798,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC raised its position in Ares Management by 33.7% during the 1st quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 6,873 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,008,000 after buying an additional 1,733 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in Ares Management by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 67,837 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,946,000 after buying an additional 3,064 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 156,700 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $22,974,000 after purchasing an additional 18,345 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 74.4% in the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 21,032 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,409,000 after purchasing an additional 8,973 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Ares Management Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of ARES stock traded up $4.75 on Tuesday, hitting $191.30. 19,003 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,636,695. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $176.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.48 billion, a PE ratio of 110.38, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.40. Ares Management Corporation has a twelve month low of $110.63 and a twelve month high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 16.49%. 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 posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is 258.96%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on ARES. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $189.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $178.19.

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.