FFT Wealth Management LLC Invests $349,000 in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

FFT Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 1,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $349,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,284,773,000 after acquiring 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 worth $982,058,000 after purchasing an additional 63,851 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,830,000 after buying an additional 18,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,201,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $566,826,000 after buying an additional 352,126 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $167.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.15. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $125.23 and a 12-month high of $200.49. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ARES shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 5,443 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.14, for a total transaction of $980,502.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 247,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,633,467.94. This trade represents a 2.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 214,571 shares of company stock valued at $39,165,379 in the last 90 days. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Company 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.