Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 37.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,760 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 476 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in Ares Management by 68.0% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,485 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $527,000 after acquiring an additional 2,624 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 172.3% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 32,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,690,000 after buying an additional 20,816 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management during the first quarter worth $684,000. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 0.7% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,191,021 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $502,895,000 after buying an additional 45,745 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 12.4% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 7,460 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $645,000 after buying an additional 825 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.72, for a total transaction of $6,486,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total value of $10,906,154.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,116,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $151,030,429. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 50,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.72, for a total value of $6,486,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,350,871 shares of company stock valued at $180,169,187 over the last quarter. 47.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ARES. Jefferies Financial Group cut Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays cut their price target on Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.17.

Ares Management Stock Down 0.8 %

ARES opened at $130.70 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $133.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. Ares Management Co. has a one year low of $77.97 and a one year high of $139.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.17.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 155.65%.

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.