BayBridge Capital Group LLC Trims Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

BayBridge Capital Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,688 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 313 shares during the period. BayBridge Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,284,773,000 after purchasing an additional 679,462 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 26.4% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $229,056,000 after acquiring an additional 280,656 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $596,318,000 after acquiring an additional 187,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,950,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $459,580,000 after purchasing an additional 175,627 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ARES shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays decreased their target price on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.24, for a total value of $2,646,573.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 214,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,802,571.96. This trade represents a 6.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total transaction of $20,599,471.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at $223,916,778.46. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 555,838 shares of company stock worth $96,785,773. Corporate insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Down 0.7 %

ARES opened at $190.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.72, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $125.23 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $183.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.35.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. On average, research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 171.43%.

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.