LPL Financial LLC Buys 21,321 Shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES)

LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 18.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 136,497 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 21,321 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in Ares Management were worth $20,012,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 40,683 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,965,000 after acquiring an additional 5,039 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 99.8% during the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,923 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $722,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 23.5% during the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 214,054 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $31,382,000 after purchasing an additional 40,711 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,112,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 3.9% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 48,643 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $7,132,000 after buying an additional 1,809 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 33,145 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 85,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 873,145 shares of company stock valued at $146,204,353. Company insiders own 36.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays increased their price objective on Ares Management from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer downgraded Ares Management from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ares Management in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Monday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $178.19.

Ares Management Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Ares Management stock traded up $2.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $189.10. 370,641 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,649,339. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.76 billion, a PE ratio of 109.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.40. Ares Management Corporation has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $176.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $166.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 16.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. 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.