Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Holdings Reduced by Perpetual Ltd

Perpetual Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 440,198 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 60,702 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd owned 0.14% of Ares Management worth $77,928,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Overbrook Management Corp boosted its stake in Ares Management by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 134,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $23,807,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at $524,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Ares Management by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,147 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its holdings in Ares Management by 50.3% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 5,308 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $940,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776 shares during the period. Finally, AHL Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Management in the fourth quarter worth about $225,000. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $191.69 on Tuesday. 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 1 year low of $112.83 and a 1 year high of $192.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $177.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.50. The company has a market cap of $60.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $833.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ARES shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group upped their price target on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total transaction of $20,599,471.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at $223,916,778.46. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 20,048 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,356,837.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 229,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,503,162.88. The trade was a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647 over the last quarter. Insiders own 41.89% 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.