Xponance Inc. Sells 546 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Xponance Inc. lessened its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,298 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 546 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $2,652,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in Ares Management by 27.4% during the third 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 period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Ares Management during the third quarter valued at about $93,682,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ares Management by 91.2% during the third quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,464,266 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $150,629,000 after buying an additional 698,246 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Ares Management by 53.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,461,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $150,303,000 after buying an additional 506,935 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management during the third quarter valued at about $39,559,000. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.17.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES stock opened at $132.01 on Tuesday. Ares Management Co. has a 1 year low of $77.97 and a 1 year high of $139.48. The company has a market cap of $40.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.23, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $133.12 and a 200 day moving average of $120.18. 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 (NYSE:ARES) last announced its 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 net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $862.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 155.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.72, for a total transaction of $6,486,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Ares Management news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.72, for a total transaction of $6,486,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 175,152 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.56, for a total transaction of $23,393,301.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock valued at $199,049,946. Corporate insiders own 47.34% of the company’s stock.

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.