Morse Asset Management Inc Grows Stock Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Morse Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,085 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $2,195,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Investmark Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management in the third quarter valued at about $223,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its stake in Ares Management by 51.8% in the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 6,151 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $959,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 7.4% in the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 7,020 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,094,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 1,269.8% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 87,130 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,579,000 after purchasing an additional 80,769 shares during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management by 67.7% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 87,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,661,000 after purchasing an additional 35,385 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ARES. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their price target on Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ares Management from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $166.36.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES opened at $175.05 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $150.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $107.69 and a 52 week high of $180.38. The stock has a market cap of $54.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.67, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.19.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 171.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 30,465 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.16, for a total value of $5,366,714.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,375,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,220,000. The trade was a 2.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.05, for a total value of $10,728,750.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 666,030 shares of company stock worth $109,779,010 in the last three months. 41.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.