Secure Asset Management LLC Trims Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Secure Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,393 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 405 shares during the quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,132,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Donoghue Forlines LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at $1,498,000. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 4,856 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $912,000 after buying an additional 620 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 122,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $21,716,000 after buying an additional 1,512 shares during the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp grew its holdings in Ares Management by 35.6% during the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 4,514 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $799,000 after acquiring an additional 1,186 shares during the period. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $208,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total value of $20,599,471.54. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at $223,916,778.46. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 18,329 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.18, for a total value of $3,210,874.22. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 254,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,650,754.30. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 574,167 shares of company stock worth $99,996,647. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Up 1.0 %

ARES stock opened at $195.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $178.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $161.51. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $116.86 and a 12 month high of $196.76. The company has a market cap of $61.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.20, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ARES. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.92.

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.