Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Acquires 3,274 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,065 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 3,274 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Ares Management were worth $12,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 10.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,762 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $430,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 13.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,957 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,532 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 17.2% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,305 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $359,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 8.2% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,963 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 2,533.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 948 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $148,000 after acquiring an additional 912 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ARES. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $176.17.

Ares Management Trading Down 3.7 %

NYSE ARES traded down $6.84 during trading on Thursday, reaching $179.90. 1,383,141 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,073,752. The firm has a market cap of $56.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.18. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $185.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.94. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $125.23 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. Analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business 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 $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. This is a positive change from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management's payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at $218,523,000. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 5,443 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.14, for a total transaction of $980,502.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 247,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,633,467.94. This trade represents a 2.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 447,080 shares of company stock valued at $80,060,323 over the last 90 days. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.