Wealthspire Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 35.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 590 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $396,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Ares Management by 67.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Ares Management in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Ares Management by 53.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in Ares Management by 1,572.7% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in Ares Management by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 435 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ARES. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.17.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:ARES opened at $168.75 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a one year low of $125.23 and a one year high of $200.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. Sell-side analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. 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 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total value of $20,599,471.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at $223,916,778.46. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total value of $2,586,557.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 233,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,015,834.24. The trade was a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 214,571 shares of company stock worth $39,165,379 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

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.