Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Stake Raised by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 443.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 383,209 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 312,742 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned 0.12% of Ares Management worth $67,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Ares Management by 67.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 53.4% in the fourth 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. Finally, Avalon Trust Co purchased a new stake in Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARES has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp raised Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $159.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Management from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Ares Management from $217.00 to $142.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on Ares Management from $216.00 to $161.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $165.00.

Ares Management Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:ARES traded down $0.48 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $152.90. The stock had a trading volume of 1,146,280 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,398,546. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $48.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.32. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $148.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.02.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. Equities analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. 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. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. Ares Management's payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was 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 approximately $218,523,000. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total value of $16,978,128.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $214,438,000. This trade represents a 7.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

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.