Bfsg LLC Has $1.11 Million Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Bfsg LLC reduced its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,295 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 429 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,114,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 67.4% in the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 4,225 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $748,000 after buying an additional 1,701 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 1,544.4% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $472,000 after buying an additional 2,502 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after buying an additional 910 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 11,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,055,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,848 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $504,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARES has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen upped their target price on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.17.

Ares Management Stock Performance

NYSE ARES opened at $187.32 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $58.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.28, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a twelve month low of $125.23 and a twelve month high of $200.49. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.47. 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 (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.53 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 18,259 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.55, for a total transaction of $3,205,367.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 116,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,424,891.40. This trade represents a 13.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total value of $20,599,471.54. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 447,080 shares of company stock worth $80,060,323 over the last three months. Company 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.