National Bank of Canada FI Sells 78,294 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

National Bank of Canada FI reduced its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 28.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 193,057 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 78,294 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.06% of Ares Management worth $22,437,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ARES. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,761,015 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,621,336,000 after acquiring an additional 273,645 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 27.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,836,590 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,410,000 after buying an additional 1,255,866 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 3.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,644,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $272,033,000 after buying an additional 78,781 shares during the last quarter. 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. Finally, 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. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES opened at $136.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.06, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.17. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $80.07 and a 12 month high of $139.48. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $707.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $814.88 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.63% and a net margin of 12.86%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 166.82%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 82,796 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 1,245,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $170,004,636.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 82,796 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.47, for a total value of $11,299,170.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,245,729 shares in the company, valued at $170,004,636.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 4,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.01, for a total value of $601,436.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,375,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $184,263,750. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock valued at $199,049,946. 41.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $154.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.08.

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.