River Road Asset Management LLC Reduces Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

River Road Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 52,175 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 15,023 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC's holdings in Ares Management were worth $6,205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 91,410 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,870,000 after buying an additional 13,663 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Ares Management by 37.1% in the 4th quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,760 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 7,030 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $836,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 337,617 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $40,149,000 after buying an additional 10,899 shares during the period. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. raised its holdings in Ares Management by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 66,950 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $7,962,000 after buying an additional 16,010 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on ARES. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Ares Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $122.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $126.17.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 4,488 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.01, for a total transaction of $601,436.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,375,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $184,263,750. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ares Management news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.72, for a total value of $6,486,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 4,488 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.01, for a total transaction of $601,436.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,375,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,263,750. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,350,871 shares of company stock valued at $180,169,187. 47.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ares Management Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE ARES traded down $1.00 on Thursday, reaching $130.70. 694,102 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,027,880. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $133.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.47. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $77.97 and a 12 month high of $139.48. The company has a market cap of $40.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $862.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.93 dividend. This is a boost from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. Ares Management's payout ratio is presently 155.65%.

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.