Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Bought by Farther Finance Advisors LLC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,006 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,063,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ares Management by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,284,773,000 after acquiring an additional 679,462 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,301,709 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $982,058,000 after buying an additional 63,851 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,318,000 after buying an additional 187,184 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,830,000 after buying an additional 18,773 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,201,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $566,826,000 after buying an additional 352,126 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARES has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price target on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.17.

Ares Management Stock Performance

NYSE ARES opened at $144.10 on Friday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $178.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.82. The company has a market capitalization of $45.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.99, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $125.23 and a 1-year high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 69,809 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.01, for a total value of $11,239,947.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 30,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,861,052.91. The trade was a 69.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This trade represents a 77.49 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 218,268 shares of company stock valued at $37,431,786. Corporate 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.