Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Purchased by Farther Finance Advisors LLC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,006 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 67.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Ares Management in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 53.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 336 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.17.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 69,809 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.01, for a total transaction of $11,239,947.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 30,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,861,052.91. This represents a 69.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. The trade was a 77.49 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 218,268 shares of company stock valued at $37,431,786 over the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ares Management Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $144.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $45.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $125.23 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $178.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.82.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 183.25%.

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.