Truist Financial Corp Cuts Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Truist Financial Corp lessened its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 645,458 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 29,221 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned about 0.21% of Ares Management worth $76,758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 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 worth $600,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,866 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in Ares Management during the 3rd quarter valued at $93,682,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 91.2% in the 3rd quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,464,266 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $150,629,000 after acquiring an additional 698,246 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 53.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,461,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $150,303,000 after acquiring an additional 506,935 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter worth $39,559,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 143,569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.51, for a total transaction of $18,880,759.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total value of $10,906,154.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,116,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $151,030,429. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 143,569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.51, for a total value of $18,880,759.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock valued at $199,049,946. 47.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ARES. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays dropped their target price on Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Management has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.17.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES stock traded down $0.11 on Friday, hitting $133.62. The company had a trading volume of 501,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,089,258. The firm has a market cap of $41.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $133.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $120.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Ares Management Co. has a twelve month low of $77.97 and a twelve month high of $139.48.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $862.71 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 155.65%.

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.