Invesco Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Invesco Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,673,992 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 247,775 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 0.85% of Ares Management worth $473,377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Ares Management in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avalon Trust Co purchased a new position in Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This represents a 77.49 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,523,000. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on ARES shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Ares Management from $187.00 to $156.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $216.00 to $161.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $188.00 to $166.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $166.07.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of ARES stock traded up $0.86 on Monday, reaching $138.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 577,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,370,892. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $157.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.06. Ares Management Co. has a 1 year low of $110.63 and a 1 year high of $200.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $43.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.32.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share 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%. Analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $1.12 dividend. This is a positive change from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is 183.25%.

Ares Management Company 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.