Capital Investment Counsel LLC Has $11 Million Stock Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Capital Investment Counsel LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,572 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the period. Ares Management comprises about 1.9% of Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $10,998,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Ares Management during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. West Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 40.0% during the second quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the second quarter valued at about $53,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the first quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ares Management by 80.4% during the 2nd quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 451 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ARES shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 19,040 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.73, for a total value of $2,793,739.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,952,772.53. This represents a 18.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 18,259 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.55, for a total value of $3,205,367.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 116,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,424,891.40. The trade was a 13.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 651,628 shares of company stock worth $102,226,989. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of ARES stock opened at $175.52 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $163.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $149.21. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $107.69 and a 1-year high of $176.83. The company has a market cap of $54.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.20. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 171.43%.

Ares Management 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.