Blair William & Co. IL Has $16.66 Million Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 23.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,093 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 17,880 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Ares Management were worth $16,657,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $444,103,000 after acquiring an additional 678,549 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 36.9% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 61,170 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,533,000 after acquiring an additional 16,499 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ares Management by 181.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 10,117 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,577,000 after acquiring an additional 6,525 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 14,928 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,326,000 after purchasing an additional 2,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 22,118 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,471,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARES has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $173.83.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This trade represents a 77.49 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $16,978,128.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,400,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $214,438,000. This represents a 7.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915. Insiders own 41.89% of the company's stock.

Ares Management Stock Up 2.1 %

NYSE:ARES traded up $3.21 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $152.65. 503,964 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,271,138. The firm has a market cap of $48.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.28, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $170.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick 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 data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. This is a positive change from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.