Natixis Boosts Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Natixis increased its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 401.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,273 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,224 shares during the period. Natixis’ holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 280 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 13,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,784,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. West Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 250 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 32,668 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,344,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,694 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ARES. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Ares Management in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $176.00 to $132.00 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $160.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $131.00 to $127.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.33.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Ares Management stock traded up $0.81 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $145.32. 1,056,203 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,146,310. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $96.00 and a 12-month high of $152.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $45.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $139.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $133.95.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.93 by ($0.13). Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 12.86%. The business had revenue of $707.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $814.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 166.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 157,837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.22, for a total transaction of $23,394,600.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,660,399.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 157,837 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.22, for a total value of $23,394,600.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,660,399.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 110,341 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.35, for a total transaction of $15,486,359.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 139,659 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,601,140.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 702,930 shares of company stock valued at $97,948,044. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.