Michael J. Arougheti Sells 4,488 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Stock

Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 4,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.01, for a total transaction of $601,436.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,375,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $184,263,750. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:ARES opened at $133.28 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $77.97 and a 12 month high of $139.48. The company has a market cap of $41.26 billion, a PE ratio of 55.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.56.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $862.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 155.65%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Management

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARES. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 269.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,113,862 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $489,222,000 after acquiring an additional 2,998,864 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 4th quarter valued at $205,499,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,836,590 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,410,000 after buying an additional 1,255,866 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 3rd quarter valued at $93,682,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 216.3% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,253,644 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $149,083,000 after buying an additional 857,245 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARES has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.45.

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.