Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Makes New Investment in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 44,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $7,767,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ARES. SouthState Corp purchased a new stake in Ares Management during the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ares Management by 0.5% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 48,851 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,162,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp lifted its position in Ares Management by 33.1% in the first quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 442 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 4.6% during the first quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,243 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,087,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential PLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 305.9% in the first quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 8,110 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 6,112 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARES has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $188.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $156.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer set a $190.00 target price on shares of Ares Management and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Ares Management from $200.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.46.

Ares Management Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of ARES opened at $178.33 on Thursday. Ares Management Corporation has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $152.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.54, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Ares Management had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 16.33%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.8438 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.38 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 192.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 56,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.26, for a total value of $8,846,975.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 590,000 shares of company stock valued at $90,653,808 over the last 90 days. 36.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management 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.