Gradient Investments LLC Sells 24,905 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Gradient Investments LLC lowered its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 12.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 181,662 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 24,905 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $17,503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. ETF Managers Group LLC grew its stake in Ares Management by 1.5% during the first quarter. ETF Managers Group LLC now owns 9,040 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $754,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Capital Impact Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ares Management by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Impact Advisors LLC now owns 3,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in Ares Management by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 11,783 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,002,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in Ares Management by 4.4% during the first quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,612 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Ares Management by 0.7% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 21,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,757,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 36,085 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.09, for a total transaction of $3,431,322.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 825,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,449,250. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Ares Management Llc sold 6,885,415 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Monday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.79, for a total transaction of $115,606,117.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 134,659,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,260,927,766.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 36,085 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.09, for a total transaction of $3,431,322.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 825,000 shares in the company, valued at $78,449,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 384,122 shares of company stock valued at $6,560,785 and have sold 7,945,541 shares valued at $221,718,145. Insiders own 47.34% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $105.10 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.68. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.60 and a fifty-two week high of $106.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.05. Ares Management had a net margin of 8.79% and a return on equity of 17.56%. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $725.82 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 188.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $117.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $97.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.00.

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.