Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Cuts Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 26.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,061 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $678,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its holdings in Ares Management by 24.5% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 149,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $17,829,000 after acquiring an additional 29,457 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 2.0% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 10,512 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 178.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 32,339 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,846,000 after buying an additional 20,730 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Ares Management by 11.1% during the third quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 125,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,859,000 after buying an additional 12,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 404.7% in the 4th quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,815 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,616,000 after acquiring an additional 31,124 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Management presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.17.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $135.90 on Thursday. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $77.97 and a fifty-two week high of $139.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $42.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.86, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $133.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $120.48.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.71 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 155.65%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In related news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 38,915 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.46, for a total value of $5,154,680.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 96,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,727,419.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total value of $10,906,154.25. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 38,915 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.46, for a total transaction of $5,154,680.90. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 96,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,727,419.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock worth $199,049,946. Company insiders own 47.34% 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.