Quantitative Investment Management LLC Buys New Shares in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Key Points

• Quantitative Investment Management LLC acquired 4,325 shares of Ares Management Corporation valued at approximately $634,000, indicating growing institutional interest in the asset manager.
• Insiders, including Chairman Antony P. Ressler, sold a significant number of shares recently, with Ressler selling over 105,000 shares for more than $19 million.
• Ares Management's stock is currently trading at around $178, with a recent earnings report showing EPS of $1.03, missing analyst expectations, and plans for a quarterly dividend of $1.12 per share.

Quantitative Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,325 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $634,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 746 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 1st quarter valued at $143,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 29.3% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,312 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,219,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 95,774 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $14,041,000 after acquiring an additional 7,700 shares during the period. Finally, CW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 1st quarter valued at $411,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Ares Management Stock Performance

ARES traded down $1.16 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $179.11. The company had a trading volume of 899,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,398,381. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $58.52 billion, a PE ratio of 103.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 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. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $181.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $165.74.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by ($0.12). The company 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is 258.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 108,374 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.72, for a total value of $19,585,349.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 1,144,478 shares of the company's stock, valued at $206,830,064.16. The trade was a 8.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 44,760 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.19, for a total transaction of $7,975,784.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,530,522 shares of company stock worth $275,565,856 in the last ninety days. 36.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARES has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Ares Management in a report on Monday, July 28th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Monday, July 14th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded shares of Ares Management to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $182.73.

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.