Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Raises Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 38.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its position in Ares Management by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 149,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $17,829,000 after purchasing an additional 29,457 shares during the period. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. lifted its stake in Ares Management by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 66,950 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,962,000 after acquiring an additional 16,010 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 10,512 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,268,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Ares Management by 178.6% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 32,339 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,846,000 after purchasing an additional 20,730 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 38,915 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.46, for a total transaction of $5,154,680.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 96,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,727,419.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 38,915 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.46, for a total transaction of $5,154,680.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 96,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,727,419.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.72, for a total value of $6,486,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock worth $199,049,946 over the last three months. 47.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARES has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.17.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of ARES opened at $133.62 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $41.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.17. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $77.97 and a 1-year high of $139.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $133.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.89.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $862.71 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 155.65%.

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.