New York State Common Retirement Fund Acquires 99,333 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 30.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 423,508 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 99,333 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.14% of Ares Management worth $50,364,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management by 73.9% during the fourth quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 240 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Ares Management during the third quarter worth $27,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Ares Management during the third quarter worth $27,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ares Management by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 280 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ARES. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $126.17.

Ares Management Stock Performance

NYSE:ARES traded down $0.60 on Wednesday, reaching $135.90. 1,124,243 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,022,197. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $42.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.17. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $77.97 and a 52 week high of $139.48. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.38.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. This is an increase from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is presently 155.65%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 38,915 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.46, for a total value of $5,154,680.90. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 96,085 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,727,419.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 38,915 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.46, for a total value of $5,154,680.90. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 96,085 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,727,419.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total transaction of $10,906,154.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,116,676 shares in the company, valued at $151,030,429. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock valued at $199,049,946. 47.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.