Park Place Capital Corp Raises Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Park Place Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 35.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,514 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,186 shares during the quarter. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $799,000 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. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Ares Management by 67.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Ares Management during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Ares Management during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Ares Management by 53.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ARES. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.92.

Ares Management Stock Down 0.2 %

ARES opened at $194.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $178.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.28. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $116.86 and a 52 week high of $196.22. The company has a market capitalization of $60.84 billion, a PE ratio of 89.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.18. 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 quarterly 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. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 171.43%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 18,329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.18, for a total transaction of $3,210,874.22. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 254,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,650,754.30. This trade represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total transaction of $20,599,471.54. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647. Insiders own 41.89% 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.