Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Purchased by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 443.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 383,209 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 312,742 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned 0.12% of Ares Management worth $67,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at $381,365,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at $335,858,000. TD Asset Management Inc. grew 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 worth $230,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276,743 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 worth $3,329,530,000 after purchasing an additional 907,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,258,519,000 after purchasing an additional 807,361 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARES. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $217.00 to $142.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $216.00 to $161.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer upgraded Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $159.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $165.00.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES stock traded up $2.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $154.58. The stock had a trading volume of 420,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,397,926. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The company's 50 day moving average price is $147.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.81. The stock has a market cap of $48.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is a positive change from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This represents a 77.49 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total value of $16,978,128.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at $214,438,000. The trade was a 7.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915. Insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

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.