Jackson Wealth Management LLC Acquires 253 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Jackson Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,761 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the quarter. Jackson Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $5,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 5.7% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 44,145 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,850,000 after buying an additional 2,399 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 395.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 39,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,272,000 after buying an additional 31,646 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 45.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 82,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,000,000 after buying an additional 26,012 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Management in the first quarter valued at $974,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 59.8% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 5,739 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $767,000 after buying an additional 2,147 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Management Trading Down 6.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ARES traded down $9.90 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $139.26. 2,114,036 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,103,870. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $140.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.38. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $96.00 and a 12 month high of $155.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 12.86%. The business had revenue of $788.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $860.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 166.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARES has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays raised their price target on Ares Management from $150.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Ares Management from $168.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. UBS Group cut their price target on Ares Management from $160.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Ares Management from $131.00 to $127.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

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

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.