Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Increases Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,432 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 684 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,670,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Ares Management by 67.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter worth $36,000. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the third quarter valued at $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 53.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its stake in Ares Management by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 559 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ARES. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total value of $20,599,471.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. This trade represents a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total value of $2,586,557.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 233,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,015,834.24. This trade represents a 5.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647 over the last quarter. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ares Management Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $191.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $60.01 billion, a PE ratio of 88.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $112.83 and a 52-week high of $192.01. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $177.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 171.43%.

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.