Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 34.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 3,124 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Ares Management by 1.8% in 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 buying an additional 273,645 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Ares Management by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,618,459 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $886,004,000 after buying an additional 701,738 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Ares Management by 27.4% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Ares Management by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,068,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $295,671,000 after buying an additional 66,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Ares Management by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,644,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $272,033,000 after buying an additional 78,781 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ARES shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of 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 issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.17.

Insider Activity

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 value 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 value 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 114,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.97, for a total transaction of $15,109,509.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,300,871 shares of company stock valued at $173,683,187. Company insiders own 47.34% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES opened at $131.35 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $40.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.17. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $77.97 and a fifty-two week high of $139.48. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $133.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.01. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $862.71 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.62 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. Stockholders 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 155.65%.

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.