New Century Financial Group LLC Buys 97 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

New Century Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,688 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 97 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Ares Management by 5.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 416,585 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $55,529,000 after purchasing an additional 20,724 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 28.3% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 60,875 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,115,000 after buying an additional 13,439 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in Ares Management by 4.8% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 23,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,153,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 52.6% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 127,310 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,968,000 after acquiring an additional 43,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 73.2% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 34,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,605,000 after acquiring an additional 14,607 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on ARES. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.92.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 20,096 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,364,874.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 229,904 shares in the company, valued at $38,495,125.76. This represents a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $292,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 253,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,312,450. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $197.39 on Friday. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.74. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $117.47 and a 12-month high of $197.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.96, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 171.43%.

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.