abrdn plc Sells 7,604 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

abrdn plc cut its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,288 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 7,604 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc's holdings in Ares Management were worth $7,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ares Management by 9.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,284,773,000 after buying an additional 679,462 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Ares Management by 31.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $444,103,000 after buying an additional 678,549 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Ares Management by 26.4% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,383 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $229,056,000 after buying an additional 280,656 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Ares Management by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $596,318,000 after buying an additional 187,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ares Management by 6.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,950,451 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $459,580,000 after buying an additional 175,627 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 20,096 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total value of $3,364,874.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 229,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,495,125.76. The trade was a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 20,048 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total value of $3,356,837.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 229,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,503,162.88. This represents a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 633,100 shares of company stock valued at $111,492,196 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARES has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $176.17.

Ares Management Price Performance

NYSE:ARES traded down $3.67 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $182.70. 761,334 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,070,030. The firm has a market cap of $57.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $125.23 and a 52 week high of $200.49. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $184.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $166.47. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 5.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. This is a positive change from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management's payout ratio is 183.25%.

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.