Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Acquires 31,930 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 183.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,355 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 31,930 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $8,737,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 1,572.7% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 435 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARES has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.17.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $167.36 on Wednesday. Ares Management Co. has a 1 year low of $125.23 and a 1 year high of $200.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $52.39 billion, a PE ratio of 82.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $184.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.15.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. Equities research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total value of $2,586,557.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 233,214 shares in the company, valued at $42,015,834.24. This trade represents a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,523,000. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 214,571 shares of company stock worth $39,165,379 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 41.89% 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.