Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Chairman Bennett Rosenthal Sells 50,000 Shares

Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 50,000 shares of the 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of ARES traded up $0.71 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $131.60. The stock had a trading volume of 879,343 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,027,004. The company has a market capitalization of $40.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.38. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $77.97 and a 12 month high of $139.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.71 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 155.65%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.17.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Ares Management by 269.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,113,862 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $489,222,000 after acquiring an additional 2,998,864 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $205,499,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,836,590 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,410,000 after buying an additional 1,255,866 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 3rd quarter valued at about $93,682,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Ares Management by 216.3% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,253,644 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $149,083,000 after buying an additional 857,245 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.