Vontobel Holding Ltd. Increases Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,452 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Ares Management by 9.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 679,462 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Ares Management by 31.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 678,549 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Ares Management by 26.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 280,656 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Ares Management by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,318,000 after acquiring an additional 187,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ares Management by 6.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,950,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $459,580,000 after acquiring an additional 175,627 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,523,000. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 29,198 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.82, for a total transaction of $5,133,592.36. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 85,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,079,905.58. The trade was a 25.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 392,200 shares of company stock worth $70,426,505. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.17.

Ares Management Price Performance

Ares Management stock opened at $179.90 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $185.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.32 billion, a PE ratio of 88.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.18. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.25%.

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.