Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC Buys New Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 5,140 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $910,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Ares Management during the 2nd quarter valued at $209,884,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Ares Management by 722.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,738,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $231,660,000 after buying an additional 1,526,856 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after acquiring an additional 679,462 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after buying an additional 678,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $229,056,000 after buying an additional 280,656 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ares Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.92.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $292,425.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 253,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,312,450. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total value of $20,599,471.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. This trade represents a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Ares Management stock traded up $2.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $189.97. The stock had a trading volume of 53,580 shares, compared to its average volume of 919,479. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.59. The company has a market capitalization of $59.47 billion, a PE ratio of 87.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a 1 year low of $112.83 and a 1 year high of $190.16. 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 quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

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.