Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Sold by Jennison Associates LLC

Jennison Associates LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,207 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,428 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC's holdings in Ares Management were worth $2,869,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in Ares Management by 1,572.7% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 368 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Round Rock Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $231,000. Golden State Equity Partners raised its position in Ares Management by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 4,094 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $725,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management raised its position in Ares Management by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,905 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $868,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its position in Ares Management by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 3,585 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $635,000 after acquiring an additional 827 shares in 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 subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted 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. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted 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 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $176.17.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE ARES opened at $191.33 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $183.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.17. Ares Management Co. has a one year low of $125.23 and a one year high of $200.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $59.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This is a boost from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 20,096 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,364,874.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 229,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,495,125.76. This represents a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $292,425.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 253,214 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,312,450. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 555,838 shares of company stock worth $96,785,773 in the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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