Acadian Asset Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Acadian Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 16.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 603 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ARES. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 3.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,038,275 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,140,328,000 after acquiring an additional 458,646 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 7.1% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,618,459 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $886,004,000 after acquiring an additional 701,738 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 26.9% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,714,982 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $357,938,000 after acquiring an additional 786,862 shares during the period. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Ares Management in the first quarter valued at $268,186,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 4.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,002,715 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $250,547,000 after acquiring an additional 123,403 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ARES shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Ares Management from $114.00 to $109.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Ares Management from $111.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 10th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Ares Management from $106.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, October 6th. Barclays cut their price target on Ares Management from $130.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Ares Management from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.83.

Ares Management Trading Up 5.0 %

Ares Management stock opened at $107.08 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $105.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.19. The stock has a market cap of $32.90 billion, a PE ratio of 49.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $66.04 and a 52 week high of $112.15.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $671.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.58 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 11.89%. The business’s revenue was down 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 14th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 143.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, major shareholder Ares Management Llc bought 150,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $14.52 per share, with a total value of $2,178,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,512,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $559,207,235.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.81, for a total transaction of $4,192,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 444,661 shares in the company, valued at $46,604,919.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ares Management Llc acquired 150,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $14.52 per share, with a total value of $2,178,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 38,512,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $559,207,235.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 774,122 shares of company stock valued at $12,118,485 and have sold 720,874 shares valued at $75,082,110. 47.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Ares Management

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.