Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Sold by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio reduced its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 58,798 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,020 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $6,992,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ares Management by 73.9% in the fourth quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 240 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 280 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Management Stock Performance

NYSE ARES opened at $131.69 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $77.97 and a 52-week high of $139.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $133.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.47. The firm has a market cap of $40.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.17.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 155.65%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on ARES shares. Barclays cut their target price on Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $126.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 4,488 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.01, for a total transaction of $601,436.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,375,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,263,750. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 4,488 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.01, for a total transaction of $601,436.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,375,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,263,750. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total transaction of $10,906,154.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,116,676 shares in the company, valued at $151,030,429. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,350,871 shares of company stock valued at $180,169,187. 47.34% 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.