Wrenne Financial Planning LLC Acquires New Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Wrenne Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,449 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Ares Management during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. West Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 40.0% in the second quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of Ares Management in the second quarter worth approximately $53,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Management in the first quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 80.4% in the second quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 451 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Price Performance

Ares Management stock opened at $175.19 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $54.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.73, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $163.13 and its 200 day moving average is $148.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $107.69 and a 52-week high of $176.31.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARES has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.36.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $292,425.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 253,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,312,450. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 19,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.74, for a total transaction of $2,826,505.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 81,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,928,054.38. This represents a 19.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 518,051 shares of company stock valued at $79,122,336. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.