Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Grows Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 178.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 32,339 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,730 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $3,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 4th quarter valued at $107,777,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Ares Management by 27.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,836,590 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,866 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Ares Management by 159.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,502,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $125,383,000 after acquiring an additional 922,675 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the third quarter worth about $93,682,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 7.1% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,618,459 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $886,004,000 after purchasing an additional 701,738 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES stock opened at $130.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.52 billion, a PE ratio of 54.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $133.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $119.38. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $77.97 and a 52 week high of $139.48. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $862.71 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 21.01%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 155.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Jefferies Financial Group cut Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 82,796 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.47, for a total transaction of $11,299,170.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,245,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $170,004,636.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 82,796 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,245,729 shares in the company, valued at $170,004,636.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 39,088 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.47, for a total transaction of $5,177,987.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 210,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,939,512.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,300,871 shares of company stock valued at $173,683,187. 47.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.