Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Sold by Cynosure Group LLC

Cynosure Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 26.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,140 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,886 shares during the quarter. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $381,365,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $335,858,000. TD Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 4,557.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,304,759 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $230,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276,743 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,807,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,329,530,000 after purchasing an additional 907,757 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,284,773,000 after purchasing an additional 679,462 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This trade 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 available through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total value of $16,978,128.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at $214,438,000. The trade was a 7.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915. Insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.83.

Ares Management Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of ARES stock opened at $149.47 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.63, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.70. Ares Management Co. has a twelve month low of $125.23 and a twelve month high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. As a group, research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

About Ares Management

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.