Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 321,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,426 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.10% of Ares Management worth $56,944,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ares Management by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after acquiring an additional 678,549 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 181.7% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 10,117 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,577,000 after purchasing an additional 6,525 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 4.5% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 22,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,471,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 0.7% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 11,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 2.1% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 35,014 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,457,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARES has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.83.

Ares Management Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $149.47 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.70. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $125.23 and a 12-month high of $200.49. 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 market cap of $47.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.63, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 183.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This represents a 77.49 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,523,000. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 329,113 shares of company stock worth $54,409,915. 41.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.