Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Purchases 24,429 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 196,439 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 24,429 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd owned 0.06% of Ares Management worth $23,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ARES. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth about $107,777,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 27.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,836,590 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $600,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,866 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 159.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,502,659 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $125,383,000 after acquiring an additional 922,675 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $93,682,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,618,459 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $886,004,000 after buying an additional 701,738 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of ARES traded down $1.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $129.53. 1,193,149 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,032,368. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $77.97 and a 1 year high of $139.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.20, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.17. The business's 50-day moving average price is $133.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.87.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $862.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.49 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 given a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Ares Management's payout ratio is currently 155.65%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In related news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total transaction of $10,906,154.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,116,676 shares in the company, valued at $151,030,429. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total transaction of $10,906,154.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,116,676 shares in the company, valued at $151,030,429. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 4,488 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.01, for a total value of $601,436.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,375,000 shares in the company, valued at $184,263,750. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock worth $199,049,946 over the last ninety days. 47.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Ares Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $122.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $126.17.

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.