New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $50.36 Million Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 30.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 423,508 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 99,333 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.14% of Ares Management worth $50,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ARES. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,836,590 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,410,000 after buying an additional 1,255,866 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $93,682,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 91.2% during the 3rd quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,464,266 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $150,629,000 after buying an additional 698,246 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 53.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,461,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $150,303,000 after buying an additional 506,935 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,559,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARES has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $126.17.

Ares Management Price Performance

NYSE:ARES opened at $136.54 on Wednesday. Ares Management Co. has a one year low of $77.97 and a one year high of $139.48. The company has a market cap of $42.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $133.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $862.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.93 dividend. 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. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 155.65%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In related news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 143,569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.51, for a total transaction of $18,880,759.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 82,796 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.47, for a total transaction of $11,299,170.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,245,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $170,004,636.63. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 143,569 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.51, for a total transaction of $18,880,759.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock worth $199,049,946. Corporate insiders own 47.34% of the company’s stock.

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.