Apollon Wealth Management LLC Purchases 13,930 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 127.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 24,865 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 13,930 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $2,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 8,654 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Ares Management by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,871 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $707,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 77,747 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,998,000 after acquiring an additional 13,139 shares during the period. Strs Ohio raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 59,818 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,153,000 after acquiring an additional 10,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter worth $1,194,000. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Ares Management from $153.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $154.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Management has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 4,488 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.01, for a total value of $601,436.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,375,000 shares in the company, valued at $184,263,750. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 4,488 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.01, for a total transaction of $601,436.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,375,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,263,750. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.72, for a total value of $6,486,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock worth $199,049,946. Company insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ARES traded up $1.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $137.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,393,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,043,097. The company has a 50 day moving average of $133.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.96. Ares Management Co. has a twelve month low of $80.07 and a twelve month high of $140.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $42.50 billion, a PE ratio of 61.06, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.17.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by ($0.13). Ares Management had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 21.63%. The firm had revenue of $707.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $814.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 166.82%.

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.