Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Sells 571 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 16.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,933 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 571 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Ares Management by 67.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Ares Management in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 53.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avalon Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on ARES shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.83.

Ares Management Price Performance

Ares Management stock opened at $147.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $175.33 and its 200 day moving average is $169.86. Ares Management Co. has a one year low of $125.23 and a one year high of $200.49. The firm has a market cap of $46.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.88, a P/E/G 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. As a group, research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.25%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This represents a 77.49 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 218,268 shares of company stock valued at $37,431,786. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.