Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Has $737,000 Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV cut its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 51.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,161 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 4,406 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV's holdings in Ares Management were worth $737,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 104.8% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 170 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avalon Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani purchased 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,237,163.65. This trade represents a 77.49% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 69,809 shares of Ares Management 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 30,191 shares in the company, valued at $4,861,052.91. The trade was a 69.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 250,180 shares of company stock valued at $39,411,066. Corporate insiders own 36.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARES has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research set a $193.00 price target on shares of Ares Management and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer upgraded Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $159.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $174.50.

Ares Management Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of ARES stock traded up $3.16 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $175.66. The company had a trading volume of 1,817,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,419,164. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $147.00 and a 200 day moving average of $167.57. The firm has a market cap of $55.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 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 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is currently 263.53%.

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.