Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 175,627 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 6.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,950,451 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 175,627 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 0.94% of Ares Management worth $459,580,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 6.5% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,417 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,195,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 192,634 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $25,674,000 after purchasing an additional 38,047 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 682,985 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $106,436,000 after purchasing an additional 36,476 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Ares Management during the third quarter worth approximately $900,000. Finally, BNP Paribas increased its holdings in Ares Management by 13.0% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 40,342 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $6,319,000 after purchasing an additional 4,643 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on ARES shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Management from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $169.64.

Ares Management Price Performance

NYSE:ARES traded down $0.35 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $182.39. 990,651 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,159,253. The firm has a market cap of $57.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $169.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $152.38. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $112.83 and a 52 week high of $185.06.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Ares Management's payout ratio is 171.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 20,096 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 229,904 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,495,125.76. This represents a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 12,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.42, for a total transaction of $1,855,250.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 414,202 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,475,860.84. This trade represents a 2.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 644,810 shares of company stock valued at $111,116,340 over the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management 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.