Americana Partners LLC Cuts Stock Position in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Americana Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,367 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 338 shares during the quarter. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 129.6% in the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,988 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. grew its position in Ares Management by 99.5% during the 1st quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 31,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,657,000 after purchasing an additional 15,846 shares during the last quarter. Alta Fox Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,453,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the second quarter valued at $2,578,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 58.6% in the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 45,136 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,617,000 after acquiring an additional 16,680 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARES. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Ares Management in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Ares Management from $188.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Oppenheimer set a $190.00 price objective on Ares Management and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Ares Management from $175.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 128,837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.30, for a total value of $22,971,637.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,590,000 shares of company stock worth $464,430,639. Insiders own 36.86% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE ARES opened at $153.81 on Wednesday. Ares Management Corporation has a 52 week low of $110.63 and a 52 week high of $200.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $160.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $50.25 billion, a PE ratio of 88.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.45.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Ares Management had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 9.47%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Cuts Dividend

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

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.