River Road Asset Management LLC Has $6.21 Million Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

River Road Asset Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 15,023 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $6,205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ares Management during the 4th quarter worth $107,777,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 27.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,836,590 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,866 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 159.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 922,675 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Ares Management in the third quarter worth $93,682,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 7.1% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,618,459 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $886,004,000 after purchasing an additional 701,738 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ARES shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. 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 report on Monday, February 12th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $126.17.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES stock opened at $131.69 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $133.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.47. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $77.97 and a 12 month high of $139.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.10, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.71 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business 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 a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 155.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total value of $10,906,154.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,116,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $151,030,429. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total value of $10,906,154.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,116,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $151,030,429. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 50,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.72, for a total value of $6,486,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,350,871 shares of company stock valued at $180,169,187 over the last ninety days. 47.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ares Management 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.