Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 153 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,948 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 153 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $16,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at $381,365,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $335,858,000. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 4,557.2% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,304,759 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $230,981,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276,743 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,807,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,329,530,000 after purchasing an additional 907,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,284,773,000 after purchasing an additional 679,462 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at $218,523,000. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,237,163.65. This trade represents a 77.49 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES stock opened at $145.07 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $172.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.46. The stock has a market cap of $45.75 billion, a PE ratio of 71.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $125.23 and a 12 month high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. On average, equities analysts expect 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 will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ARES. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays cut their price objective on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.83.

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.