Legal & General Group Plc Reduces Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 22.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 872,290 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 252,765 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $154,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Certior Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth about $513,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 170.3% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,346 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,807,000 after purchasing an additional 17,229 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,258,519,000 after purchasing an additional 807,361 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1,592.5% during the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 5,433 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 5,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oribel Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth about $3,753,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Trading Up 15.7 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $142.58 on Thursday. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $110.63 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. The stock has a market cap of $44.97 billion, a PE ratio of 70.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $160.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $169.26.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $187.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $217.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $166.07.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total value of $16,978,128.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $214,438,000. The trade was a 7.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,523,000. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.