Barclays PLC Purchases 129,611 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 42.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 435,103 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 129,611 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $67,807,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Ares Management by 58.5% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,058,394 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $674,183,000 after buying an additional 1,867,933 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 2nd quarter worth about $209,884,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 722.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,738,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $231,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,526,856 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 49.4% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,822,565 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $376,191,000 after acquiring an additional 933,664 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 678,549 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ARES shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.36.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $182.45 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.17. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $110.41 and a fifty-two week high of $183.87. 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 firm has a market cap of $57.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm 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 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.43%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.42, for a total value of $1,855,250.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 414,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,475,860.84. This represents a 2.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 20,048 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total value of $3,356,837.12. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 229,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,503,162.88. This trade represents a 8.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 644,810 shares of company stock valued at $111,116,340. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.