Gilbert & Cook Inc. Invests $329,000 in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Gilbert & Cook Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,110 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $329,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ares Management by 32.5% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,705,000 after buying an additional 4,996 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Ares Management by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 192,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,674,000 after buying an additional 38,047 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Ares Management in the 1st quarter valued at $968,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 45.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 82,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,000,000 after purchasing an additional 26,012 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Ares Management in the 1st quarter valued at $264,729,000. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 15,704 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.09, for a total transaction of $2,262,789.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 156,031 shares in the company, valued at $22,482,506.79. The trade was a 9.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 15,798 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.10, for a total transaction of $2,276,491.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 155,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,476,141.60. This represents a 9.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 530,453 shares of company stock valued at $78,577,065 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of ARES stock opened at $167.21 on Monday. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $101.44 and a 12-month high of $175.74. The company has a market capitalization of $52.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $160.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced 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. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ARES. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.36.

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.