Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 155,316 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 3,316 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp's holdings in Ares Management were worth $27,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ARES. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,807,718 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,329,530,000 after purchasing an additional 907,757 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Ares Management by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,753,779 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,903,741,000 after buying an additional 223,919 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Ares Management by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,277,879 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,465,433,000 after buying an additional 33,700 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,258,519,000 after acquiring an additional 807,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,126,442 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $907,534,000 after acquiring an additional 66,671 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms recently issued reports on ARES. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $217.00 to $142.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised shares of Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $159.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $165.00.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Ares Management
Insider Activity
In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $218,523,000. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This represents a 77.49 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 329,113 shares of company stock worth $54,409,915 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.
Ares Management Stock Performance
ARES stock traded down $3.50 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $149.29. The company had a trading volume of 402,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,394,776. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.09 billion, a PE ratio of 73.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $147.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $110.63 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49.
Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. Analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.
Ares Management Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $1.12 dividend. This is a positive change from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is currently 183.25%.
About Ares Management
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
Before you consider Ares Management, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Ares Management wasn't on the list.
While Ares Management currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
If a company's CEO, COO, and CFO were all selling shares of their stock, would you want to know? MarketBeat just compiled its list of the twelve stocks that corporate insiders are abandoning. Complete the form below to see which companies made the list.
Get This Free Report
