Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 57,207 Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 57,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $10,127,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $381,365,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 4th quarter worth about $335,858,000. TD Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 4,557.2% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,304,759 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $230,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276,743 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,807,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,329,530,000 after purchasing an additional 907,757 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,258,519,000 after purchasing an additional 807,361 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This trade represents a 77.49% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total value of $16,978,128.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $214,438,000. The trade was a 7.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 250,180 shares of company stock valued at $39,411,066 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 36.86% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES opened at $164.93 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $146.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.51. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $110.63 and a 52-week high of $200.49. The firm has a market cap of $52.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.25, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.40. 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 announced its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.15. Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. The company had revenue of $951.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $914.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 263.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ARES shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ares Management from $156.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Ares Management from $216.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays boosted their price target on Ares Management from $142.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $159.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.50.

About Ares Management

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.