WBI Investments LLC Takes $523,000 Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

WBI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,952 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $335,858,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Ares Management by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,258 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $126,622,000 after purchasing an additional 32,273 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Ares Management by 9.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after purchasing an additional 679,462 shares in the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,498,000. Finally, Soros Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,144,000. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 69,809 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.01, for a total transaction of $11,239,947.09. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 30,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,861,052.91. The trade was a 69.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $16,978,128.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $214,438,000. This trade represents a 7.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 685,180 shares of company stock worth $113,177,573 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 36.86% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ARES. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $156.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Ares Management from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. JMP Securities lifted their price target 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. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $216.00 to $161.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $142.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $174.50.

Ares Management Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $168.56 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $55.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.03, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.40. The firm's fifty day moving average is $148.97 and its 200 day moving average is $167.64. 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.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $951.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $914.00 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 263.53%.

Ares Management Company Profile

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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