Rhumbline Advisers Buys 178 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 244,556 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.08% of Ares Management worth $43,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after purchasing an additional 679,462 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after acquiring an additional 678,549 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $229,056,000 after purchasing an additional 280,656 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,318,000 after purchasing an additional 187,184 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 6.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,950,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $459,580,000 after purchasing an additional 175,627 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays dropped their target price on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 25,843 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.16, for a total transaction of $4,423,287.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,711 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,705,414.76. This trade represents a 13.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 26,518 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.18, for a total transaction of $4,539,351.24. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 167,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,739,581.38. The trade was a 13.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 525,777 shares of company stock valued at $93,531,158. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $186.11 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $184.65 and a 200-day moving average of $167.21. Ares Management Co. has a one year low of $125.23 and a one year high of $200.49. The stock has a market cap of $58.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 5.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.25%.

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.