Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Has $6.60 Million Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 68.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 37,275 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,124 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $6,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 8,053 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038 shares in the last quarter. Siligmueller & Norvid Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,621,000. Fjell Capital LLC bought a new position in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,059,000. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 183.2% in the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 49,355 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,737,000 after buying an additional 31,930 shares during the period. Finally, LGL Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth $209,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on ARES. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.17.

Ares Management Price Performance

NYSE:ARES opened at $167.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.14. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $125.23 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.38 billion, a PE ratio of 82.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total value of $2,586,557.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 233,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,015,834.24. This represents a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 214,571 shares of company stock valued at $39,165,379 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Profile

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.