Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Raises Stock Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 337,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,899 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $40,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 73.9% during the fourth quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 240 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. grew its stake in Ares Management by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 280 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 74,585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.97, for a total value of $9,917,567.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,375,000 shares in the company, valued at $182,833,750. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 82,796 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.47, for a total transaction of $11,299,170.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,245,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $170,004,636.63. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 74,585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.97, for a total value of $9,917,567.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,375,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,833,750. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock valued at $199,049,946. 47.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Barclays lowered their price target on Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.17.

Ares Management Price Performance

Ares Management stock opened at $129.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $40.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.17. Ares Management Co. has a one year low of $77.97 and a one year high of $139.48. The business has a fifty day moving average of $133.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $119.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $862.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.93 dividend. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 155.65%.

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.