Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Purchased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 32.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,469 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,545 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,853,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc acquired a new stake in Ares Management during the 4th quarter worth $258,000. Summit Trail Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Management during the 4th quarter worth $225,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Ares Management by 25.8% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $769,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Management by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,568 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Management by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,263 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,764,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 29,198 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.82, for a total value of $5,133,592.36. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 85,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,079,905.58. This represents a 25.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 392,200 shares of company stock worth $70,426,505 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.17.

Ares Management Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of ARES opened at $179.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $56.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $125.23 and a 12-month high of $200.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $185.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.94. 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 (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 183.25%.

Ares Management 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.