Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Has $1.06 Million Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 665 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ARES. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $335,858,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Ares Management by 9.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after purchasing an additional 679,462 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Management by 31.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Management by 26.4% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $229,056,000 after purchasing an additional 280,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Ares Management by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,318,000 after purchasing an additional 187,184 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This represents a 77.49 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 218,268 shares of company stock valued at $37,431,786. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.83.

Ares Management Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:ARES opened at $147.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $46.43 billion, a PE ratio of 72.51, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $125.23 and a 52-week high of $200.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.85.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted 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 return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. 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.