Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Acquires 99,717 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 110,796.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 99,807 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 99,717 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.'s holdings in Ares Management were worth $11,869,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 73.9% during the 4th 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 stake in Ares Management in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter worth $27,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 280 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARES has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded 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. Barclays lowered their target price on Ares Management from $153.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $125.92.

Ares Management Price Performance

Ares Management stock traded down $2.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $131.94. 1,085,269 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,031,124. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $133.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.40. The stock has a market cap of $40.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.17. Ares Management Co. has a one year low of $77.97 and a one year high of $139.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by ($0.13). Ares Management had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $707.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $814.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Ares Management's payout ratio is 155.65%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 4,488 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,375,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,263,750. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,116,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at $151,030,429. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 4,488 shares of the company'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 value of $601,436.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,375,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $184,263,750. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock valued at $199,049,946. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

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.

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