Fulton Bank N.A. Increases Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Fulton Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES – Get Rating) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,166 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 664 shares during the quarter. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter worth approximately $390,000. Toroso Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 4.7% during the third quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 4,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $298,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 2.4% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 19,512 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,208,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter worth approximately $242,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 6.6% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 59,864 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,708,000 after acquiring an additional 3,704 shares during the period. 47.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $81.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $87.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $86.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Ares Management Llc bought 250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.85 per share, for a total transaction of $5,962,500.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 35,623,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $849,630,587.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Ares Management Llc bought 250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.85 per share, for a total transaction of $5,962,500.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 35,623,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $849,630,587.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Corporate Opportunities F. Ares sold 4,770,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.06, for a total transaction of $124,306,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,326,090 shares in the company, valued at $373,337,905.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 4,079,594 shares of company stock worth $15,785,132 and have sold 5,121,973 shares worth $154,478,492. 47.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ares Management Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $75.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $80.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.83. Ares Management Co. has a 1 year low of $53.15 and a 1 year high of $87.50. The stock has a market cap of $22.27 billion, a PE ratio of 88.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.34.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $937.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $813.69 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 16.82%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 16th. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 287.06%.

Ares Management Company Profile

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Ares Management Corp. is engaged in providing investment management and consultancy services. It operates through the following segments: Credit Group, Private Equity Group and Real Estate Group. The Credit Group segment offers credit strategies across the liquid and illiquid spectrum, including syndicated bank loans, high yield bonds, credit opportunities, special situations, asset-backed investments and U.S.