Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Acquired by Chesley Taft & Associates LLC

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,022 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 60 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $2,482,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after acquiring an additional 679,462 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 1.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,301,709 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $982,058,000 after purchasing an additional 63,851 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $596,318,000 after buying an additional 187,184 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,830,000 after buying an additional 18,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,950,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $459,580,000 after buying an additional 175,627 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Ares Management from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.92.

Ares Management Stock Performance

ARES opened at $191.69 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $177.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $160.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $60.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $112.83 and a 1-year high of $192.01.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $833.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total transaction of $2,586,557.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 233,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,015,834.24. This represents a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.24, for a total transaction of $2,646,573.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 214,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,802,571.96. This trade represents a 6.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

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.