Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Sold by Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC reduced its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 223,078 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 6,932 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned about 0.07% of Ares Management worth $39,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after buying an additional 678,549 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its stake in Ares Management by 137.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 11,987 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,868,000 after acquiring an additional 6,930 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Ares Management by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 682,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $106,436,000 after acquiring an additional 36,476 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in Ares Management by 38.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,832 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 36.9% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 61,170 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,533,000 after purchasing an additional 16,499 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Ares Management Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $153.81 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $174.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.35. Ares Management Co. has a 1 year low of $125.23 and a 1 year high of $200.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted 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 net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 183.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at $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 the SEC website. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 69,526 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.99, for a total value of $11,192,990.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,474 shares in the company, valued at $4,906,009.26. The trade was a 69.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 218,268 shares of company stock valued at $37,431,786 over the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by 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.