Zhang Financial LLC Takes $524,000 Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Zhang Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,961 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $524,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ARES. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $209,884,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management by 722.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,738,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $231,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,526,856 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after purchasing an additional 679,462 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $229,056,000 after purchasing an additional 280,656 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Ares Management news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 19,775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.45, for a total value of $3,311,323.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 230,225 shares in the company, valued at $38,551,176.25. This represents a 7.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 20,048 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,356,837.12. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 229,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,503,162.88. This trade represents a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647. 41.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ares Management from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.92.

Ares Management Stock Up 2.0 %

ARES stock opened at $191.69 on Tuesday. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $112.83 and a 52-week high of $192.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $160.50.

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

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

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.