Bleakley Financial Group LLC Invests $225,000 in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,888 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,461,000 after buying an additional 3,124 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 195.6% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 157,783 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,764,000 after buying an additional 104,408 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Management in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 178.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 32,339 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,846,000 after buying an additional 20,730 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 70.7% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 41,746 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,987,000 after buying an additional 17,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 22,115 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.84, for a total value of $2,893,526.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 188,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,702,199.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 114,492 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.97, for a total value of $15,109,509.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 22,115 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.84, for a total value of $2,893,526.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 188,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,702,199.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,300,871 shares of company stock worth $173,683,187. 47.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ares Management Stock Performance

NYSE ARES opened at $129.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.04 billion, a PE ratio of 54.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $133.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $77.97 and a 1-year high of $139.48.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $862.71 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.21 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 155.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on ARES shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Barclays cut their target price on Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.