TCW Group Inc. Purchases New Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

TCW Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 15,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,818,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 67.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Ares Management by 53.4% during 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, CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1,572.7% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ARES shares. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.17.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of ARES stock opened at $174.00 on Monday. Ares Management Co. has a twelve month low of $125.23 and a twelve month high of $200.49. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.76. The company has a market cap of $54.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 183.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 30,680 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.16, for a total value of $5,404,588.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 304,823 shares of company stock valued at $55,063,881. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.