Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) Stock Position Cut by Klingman & Associates LLC

Key Points

• Klingman & Associates LLC reduced its stake in Ares Management by 48.2%, selling 2,450 shares and holding a total of 2,636 shares worth $386,000 as of the latest SEC filing.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Capital World Investors, have increased their stakes in Ares Management, indicating a strong interest in the asset management firm.
• Ares Management announced a quarterly dividend of $1.12 per share, with an annualized payout representing a 2.3% dividend yield for shareholders.

Klingman & Associates LLC cut its stake in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 48.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,636 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 2,450 shares during the quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC's holdings in Ares Management were worth $386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 2.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,189,991 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,813,445,000 after buying an additional 382,273 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 223,919 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,308,330 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,218,084,000 after acquiring an additional 30,451 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 302,303 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,354,032 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $491,735,000 after purchasing an additional 152,169 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities raised 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. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Ares Management to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $193.00 price objective on shares of Ares Management and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $178.19.

Ares Management Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:ARES traded down $2.65 during trading on Friday, reaching $187.80. The stock had a trading volume of 928,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,347,009. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $178.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $166.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $61.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.55, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.40. Ares Management Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $110.63 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last announced its 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). The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.02 billion. Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is currently 258.96%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 107,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 stock in a transaction on 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 531,329 shares of company stock valued at $88,173,829 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 36.86% of the company's stock.

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.