Fiduciary Group LLC Makes New $207,000 Investment in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Fiduciary Group LLC acquired a new position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 28,921 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,439,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 172.6% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 37,088 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,411,000 after buying an additional 23,481 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Overbrook Management Corp boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 133,440 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,869,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 91,256 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,852,000 after purchasing an additional 3,259 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 74,585 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.97, for a total transaction of $9,917,567.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,375,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $182,833,750. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 143,569 shares of Ares Management 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 74,585 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.97, for a total transaction of $9,917,567.45. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,375,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $182,833,750. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock valued at $199,049,946 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $134.93 on Tuesday. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $77.97 and a 52 week high of $139.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.46, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

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

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.93 dividend. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 155.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.17.

Ares Management 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.