Vontobel Holding Ltd. Buys 2,275 Shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 92.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,727 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 2,275 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Ares Management were worth $693,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Sage Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 186.3% in the first quarter. Sage Advisors LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $617,000 after buying an additional 2,740 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 23.7% in the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 2,036 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 7.7% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 13,162 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,930,000 after buying an additional 944 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 27.5% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,695 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,234,000 after buying an additional 7,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 0.7% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 416,257 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $61,027,000 after buying an additional 2,904 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Management Price Performance

Ares Management stock opened at $177.96 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.68, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.37. Ares Management Corporation has a 1 year low of $110.63 and a 1 year high of $200.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $166.68 and a 200-day moving average of $166.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $951.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $914.00 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.29% and a net margin of 9.73%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Ares Management's payout ratio is currently 263.53%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 182,108 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.07, for a total transaction of $30,971,107.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 350,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,640,827.88. The trade was a 34.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 62,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total value of $10,585,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 62,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,585,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 873,145 shares of company stock worth $146,204,353. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ARES shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Citizens Jmp raised Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer cut Ares Management from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Ares Management from $216.00 to $161.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.94.

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.

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