Ares Management Corporation $ARES Shares Purchased by Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 62,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,251 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $10,824,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Management by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 3,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 10.3% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 630 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 1.3% during the second quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 4,576 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $793,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Ares Management by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 746 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cigna Investments Inc. New increased its position in Ares Management by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 1,890 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $327,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 136,516 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.74, for a total value of $24,946,933.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 311,728 shares in the company, valued at $56,965,174.72. This represents a 30.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 196,197 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $35,078,061.63. Following the sale, the chairman owned 1,424,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,693,149.02. This represents a 12.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 2,590,000 shares of company stock worth $464,430,639 over the last three months. 36.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ares Management Stock Up 1.6%

ARES stock opened at $153.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.45. Ares Management Corporation has a 52-week low of $110.63 and a 52-week high of $200.49. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.96.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The asset manager reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.05. Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.8438 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 192.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARES has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer set a $190.00 price objective on Ares Management and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Ares Management from $188.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $200.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $184.79.

Ares Management 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.