Wealth Alliance LLC Buys Shares of 3,361 Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES)

Wealth Alliance LLC bought a new stake in Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 3,361 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at $381,365,000. TD Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 4,557.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,304,759 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $230,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276,743 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,807,718 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,329,530,000 after purchasing an additional 907,757 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,258,519,000 after acquiring an additional 807,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 394.8% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 766,267 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $135,652,000 after acquiring an additional 611,414 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research set a $193.00 target price on shares of Ares Management and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Barclays boosted their price target 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, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $177.50.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 107,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.34, for a total transaction of $17,344,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $225,876,000. The trade was a 7.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 33,145 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.12, for a total transaction of $5,472,902.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 873,145 shares of company stock worth $146,204,353. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ares Management Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $178.75 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.38 billion, a PE ratio of 105.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.37. Ares Management Corporation has a 52-week low of $110.63 and a 52-week high of $200.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $166.33.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Ares Management had a net margin of 9.73% and a return on equity of 16.29%. The firm had revenue of $951.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $914.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors 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 yield of 2.51%. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 263.53%.

Ares Management 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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