Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $14.10 Million Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio trimmed its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,666 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 6,772 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Ares Management were worth $14,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 42.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 435,103 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $67,807,000 after purchasing an additional 129,611 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ares Management by 9.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,284,773,000 after buying an additional 679,462 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Ares Management by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 122,671 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $21,716,000 after buying an additional 1,512 shares during the period. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 4,856 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $912,000 after buying an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ARES. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $182.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $188.00 to $166.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.94.

Insider Activity

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 69,809 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.01, for a total transaction of $11,239,947.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 30,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,861,052.91. The trade was a 69.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. The trade was a 77.49% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 942,680 shares of company stock worth $155,477,123. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARES traded down $0.74 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $163.86. 999,948 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,422,039. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.51 billion, a PE ratio of 80.72, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.40. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $110.63 and a 52 week high of $200.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company's 50 day moving average is $150.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.42.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.15. Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. The company had revenue of $951.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $914.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Ares Management's payout ratio is presently 263.53%.

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.