Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Purchased by BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas raised its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,342 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,643 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Ares Management were worth $6,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ARES. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,417 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,195,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 24.6% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 192,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,674,000 after purchasing an additional 38,047 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ares Management by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 682,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $106,436,000 after purchasing an additional 36,476 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Ares Management by 45.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 82,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,000,000 after purchasing an additional 26,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $264,729,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 28,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.82, for a total transaction of $5,078,912.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 87,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,377,393.02. The trade was a 24.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 57,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.74, for a total value of $8,092,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 456,702 shares in the company, valued at $64,276,239.48. This trade represents a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 645,388 shares of company stock worth $103,931,822. Insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ARES shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ares Management from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.36.

Ares Management Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $178.81 on Wednesday. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $107.69 and a 12-month high of $178.88. The company has a market cap of $55.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.78.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 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.