FFT Wealth Management LLC Makes New $349,000 Investment in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

FFT Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,972 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $349,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 67.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1,572.7% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 368 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 48.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 435 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 5,443 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.14, for a total value of $980,502.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 247,771 shares in the company, valued at $44,633,467.94. This represents a 2.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 214,571 shares of company stock worth $39,165,379 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on ARES shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $176.17.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES traded up $3.81 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $170.93. 2,118,611 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,147,893. 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 $53.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.20, a PEG ratio of 1.28 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.35.

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, equities analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. This is a boost from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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.