Fifth Third Bancorp Has $4.40 Million Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Fifth Third Bancorp trimmed its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,847 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 325 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $4,399,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ARES. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 67.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Ares Management during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Ares Management by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 21.0% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 559 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARES has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.92.

Ares Management Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of ARES stock opened at $197.39 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $61.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $117.47 and a 12-month high of $197.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $179.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.36.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 171.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 20,096 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,364,874.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 229,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,495,125.76. This represents a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 18,329 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.18, for a total value of $3,210,874.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 254,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,650,754.30. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 574,167 shares of company stock worth $99,996,647 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.