Zhang Financial LLC Buys Shares of 2,961 Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Zhang Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 2,961 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $524,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after acquiring an additional 679,462 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Ares Management by 1.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,301,709 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $982,058,000 after acquiring an additional 63,851 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Ares Management by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,318,000 after purchasing an additional 187,184 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,830,000 after acquiring an additional 18,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,950,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $459,580,000 after purchasing an additional 175,627 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES stock opened at $191.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.34, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $177.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $160.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $112.83 and a 12-month high of $192.01.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 171.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ARES. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ares Management from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, insider Ryan Berry sold 18,329 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.18, for a total value of $3,210,874.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 254,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,650,754.30. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 20,048 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,356,837.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 229,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,503,162.88. The trade was a 8.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 574,167 shares of company stock worth $99,996,647 in the last three months. 41.89% of the stock is 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.