First Trust Advisors LP Buys 96,853 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES – Get Rating) by 52.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 279,813 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 96,853 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $19,150,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Ares Management by 808.6% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 544,164 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,941,000 after purchasing an additional 484,275 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 3.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,038,275 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,140,328,000 after acquiring an additional 458,646 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 45.8% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,231,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $70,051,000 after acquiring an additional 387,039 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,201,000. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 563.9% in the third quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 349,539 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $21,654,000 after acquiring an additional 296,886 shares during the period. 47.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $86.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 13th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $98.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Monday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $81.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.44.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $83.64 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $25.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.04, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.31. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $53.15 and a 12 month high of $90.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $81.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.71.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The asset manager reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $813.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $694.04 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.79% and a net margin of 6.84%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 16th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 15th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 280.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Ares Management Llc acquired 250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $23.85 per share, with a total value of $5,962,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 35,623,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $849,630,587.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, major shareholder Ares Management Llc bought 250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $23.85 per share, with a total value of $5,962,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 35,623,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $849,630,587.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Antoinette Cook Bush bought 1,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $81.69 per share, with a total value of $100,805.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,500,563.61. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 2,159,448 shares of company stock valued at $47,345,633 over the last quarter. 47.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Ares Management

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Ares Management Corp. is engaged in providing investment management and consultancy services. It operates through the following segments: Credit Group, Private Equity Group and Real Estate Group. The Credit Group segment offers credit strategies across the liquid and illiquid spectrum, including syndicated bank loans, high yield bonds, credit opportunities, special situations, asset-backed investments and U.S.