Promus Capital LLC Buys New Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $178,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 679,462 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Ares Management by 1.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,301,709 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $982,058,000 after buying an additional 63,851 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Ares Management by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,318,000 after buying an additional 187,184 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 18,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Management by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,201,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $566,826,000 after buying an additional 352,126 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Management Stock Performance

ARES opened at $162.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.00 billion, a PE ratio of 80.25, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a twelve month low of $125.23 and a twelve month high of $200.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $183.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.96. 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 (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. This is a positive change 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 183.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total transaction of $2,586,557.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 233,214 shares in the company, valued at $42,015,834.24. The trade was a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 214,571 shares of company stock worth $39,165,379 in the last ninety days. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.