Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Buys New Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 4,489 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $534,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 7.9% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 8,654 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $890,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,871 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $707,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.1% in the third quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,781 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 20.3% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 77,747 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,998,000 after acquiring an additional 13,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 59,818 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,153,000 after acquiring an additional 10,818 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of ARES opened at $131.91 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $40.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.15, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.17. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $77.97 and a 52 week high of $139.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $133.10 and a 200-day moving average of $121.74.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by ($0.13). Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.63% and a net margin of 12.86%. The business had revenue of $707.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $814.88 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 166.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on ARES shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Ares Management from $153.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In related news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.72, for a total value of $6,486,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ares Management news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.72, for a total value of $6,486,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 82,796 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.47, for a total transaction of $11,299,170.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,245,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $170,004,636.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,494,440 shares of company stock worth $199,049,946 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.