Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Purchased by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 136,436 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,844 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $24,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 67.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 53.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Avalon Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at $3,237,163.65. This represents a 77.49 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 69,809 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.01, for a total transaction 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 approximately $4,861,052.91. The trade was a 69.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 218,268 shares of company stock worth $37,431,786 in the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Trading Up 0.4 %

Ares Management stock opened at $147.95 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $175.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.86. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $125.23 and a 52 week high of $200.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. Research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $1.12 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ARES. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.83.

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.