Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Sold by Prosperity Consulting Group LLC

Prosperity Consulting Group LLC cut its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 12.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,930 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,619 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $4,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 19,949 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,372,000 after purchasing an additional 6,576 shares during the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,100,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Ares Management by 32.5% during the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,705,000 after purchasing an additional 4,996 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC raised its stake in Ares Management by 2,695.3% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 70,414 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,364,000 after purchasing an additional 67,895 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 397,285 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $52,831,000 after purchasing an additional 59,668 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARES has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Ares Management from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $141.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $156.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $160.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.42.

Ares Management Stock Up 2.5 %

ARES stock opened at $147.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $46.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $143.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $96.00 and a 12 month high of $155.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 20.46% and a net margin of 12.53%. The firm had revenue of $788.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $860.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 166.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 27,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.67, for a total value of $3,950,570.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 222,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,466,929.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 27,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.67, for a total value of $3,950,570.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 222,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,466,929.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 125,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.94, for a total value of $16,492,500.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 779,315 shares of company stock valued at $109,487,356 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.