Bleakley Financial Group LLC Acquires Shares of 1,888 Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,888 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,461,000 after acquiring an additional 3,124 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in Ares Management by 195.6% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 157,783 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $18,764,000 after acquiring an additional 104,408 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in Ares Management during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Ares Management by 178.6% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 32,339 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,846,000 after acquiring an additional 20,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in Ares Management by 70.7% during the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 41,746 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,987,000 after acquiring an additional 17,293 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 82,796 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.47, for a total transaction of $11,299,170.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,245,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $170,004,636.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 82,796 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.47, for a total transaction of $11,299,170.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,245,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $170,004,636.63. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 39,088 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.47, for a total value of $5,177,987.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 210,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,939,512.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,300,871 shares of company stock valued at $173,683,187 in the last quarter. 47.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Stock Down 1.5 %

ARES stock opened at $129.33 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.04 billion, a PE ratio of 54.11, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.17. Ares Management Co. has a twelve month low of $77.97 and a twelve month high of $139.48. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.71 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 155.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARES. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays lowered their target price on Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.17.

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.