Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 10,063 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 10.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,054 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 10,063 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $11,310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ARES. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the first quarter valued at approximately $264,729,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at $205,499,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Ares Management by 216.3% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,253,644 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $149,083,000 after buying an additional 857,245 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Management by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,392,349 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,949,378,000 after buying an additional 631,334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. boosted its position in Ares Management by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. now owns 934,360 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $111,114,000 after purchasing an additional 429,953 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ARES. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $176.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $131.00 to $127.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Ares Management from $168.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on Ares Management from $150.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $134.33.

Ares Management Trading Down 1.2 %

ARES traded down $1.74 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $145.36. 849,860 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,140,907. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $139.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.46. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $96.00 and a 52-week high of $152.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.04 billion, a PE ratio of 65.57, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.22.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by ($0.13). Ares Management had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The business had revenue of $707.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $814.88 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 166.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 41,676 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.21, for a total value of $6,260,151.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,075,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $161,475,750. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 157,837 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.22, for a total transaction of $23,394,600.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,660,399.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 41,676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.21, for a total transaction of $6,260,151.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,075,000 shares in the company, valued at $161,475,750. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 702,930 shares of company stock valued at $97,948,044. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.