Jackson Square Capital LLC Buys New Shares in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Jackson Square Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,460 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,799 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 67.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,746 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $486,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 11,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 18,329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.18, for a total transaction of $3,210,874.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 254,885 shares in the company, valued at $44,650,754.30. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.24, for a total transaction of $2,646,573.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 214,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,802,571.96. This represents a 6.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 574,167 shares of company stock worth $99,996,647. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $191.69 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $177.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $160.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.18. 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 twelve month low of $112.83 and a twelve month high of $192.01.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 171.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARES has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.92.

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.