Toronto Dominion Bank Purchases 5,404 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 31.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 22,750 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,404 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $3,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ARES. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ares Management by 0.7% during the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 11,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,070,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ares Management by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 21.0% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 559 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC grew its position in Ares Management by 40.0% during the second quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Ares Management news, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total value of $2,586,557.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 233,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,015,834.24. This represents a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total transaction of $20,599,471.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $223,916,778.46. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 646,667 shares of company stock worth $111,847,647 in the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES stock opened at $182.45 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.08, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $170.12 and a 200 day moving average of $152.76. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $112.83 and a 52 week high of $185.06. 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 posted its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $833.58 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARES has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ares Management from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $176.00 to $212.00 in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays increased their target price on Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.64.

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.