Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Raises Holdings in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Key Points

• Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its stake in Ares Management Corporation by 198.1%, acquiring an additional 3,021 shares to reach a total of 4,546 shares valued at $665,000.
• Insider transactions included CEO Michael J. Arougheti selling 136,516 shares worth approximately $24.9 million, representing a 30.46% decrease in his ownership.
• Ares Management reported earnings per share of $1.03 for the last quarter, missing the consensus estimate by $0.12, and will be paying a quarterly dividend of $1.12 per share, with an annual yield of 2.5%.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its stake in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 198.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,546 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 3,021 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.'s holdings in Ares Management were worth $665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,189,991 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,813,445,000 after acquiring an additional 382,273 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 worth $1,218,084,000 after acquiring an additional 30,451 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 8.8% during 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $491,735,000 after acquiring an additional 152,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,902,603 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $278,941,000 after acquiring an additional 5,424 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARES has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ares Management from $189.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on Ares Management from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wolfe Research set a $193.00 target price on Ares Management and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Ares Management from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $180.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 105,648 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.65, for a total transaction of $19,190,959.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 44,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,130,654. This represents a 70.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 85,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.79, for a total value of $14,347,150.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 992,628 shares of company stock valued at $177,736,922 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Ares Management Stock Performance

ARES traded down $2.8310 on Monday, hitting $178.2390. 1,564,696 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,359,248. The company has a 50 day moving average of $179.95 and a 200-day moving average of $165.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.23 billion, a PE ratio of 103.03, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.40. Ares Management Corporation has a 12-month low of $110.63 and a 12-month high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 EPS 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 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.