National Pension Service Increases Holdings in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

National Pension Service grew its stake in Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 262,254 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,524 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $45,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 64.6% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $198,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in Ares Management by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $432,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 15.5% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,519 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $369,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Ares Management by 110.0% during the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 987 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management raised its holdings in Ares Management by 5.5% in the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,022 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES opened at $148.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.90, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Ares Management Corporation has a one year low of $110.63 and a one year high of $200.49. The business has a fifty day moving average of $158.98 and a 200 day moving average of $168.87.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.05. The company 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.8438 per share. This represents a $3.38 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 192.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Ares Management in a report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Oppenheimer set a $190.00 price target on Ares Management and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Ares Management from $175.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Ares Management in a report on Monday, September 29th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 128,837 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 2,533,796 shares of company stock worth $453,825,507 over the last three months. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.