3,127 Shares in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Bought by Copley Financial Group Inc.

Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,127 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $487,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ares Management by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Ares Management by 6.6% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 33,991 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,530,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its stake in Ares Management by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 22,818 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Ares Management by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 369,160 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $49,202,000 after acquiring an additional 3,039 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in Ares Management by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 192,634 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $25,674,000 after acquiring an additional 38,047 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARES has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Management from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $169.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $42,015,834.24. This trade represents a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.24, for a total value of $2,646,573.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 214,079 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,802,571.96. The trade was a 6.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 659,167 shares of company stock valued at $113,702,897 in the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ARES stock traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $182.45. The company had a trading volume of 990,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,159,253. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.12 billion, a PE ratio of 84.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.19. The company's fifty day moving average is $170.12 and its 200 day moving average is $152.63. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.83 and a fifty-two week high of $185.06.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $833.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 171.43%.

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.