Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Sold by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio decreased its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 86,438 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 2,753 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Ares Management were worth $13,470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. West Oak Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 40.0% during the 2nd quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 350 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc acquired a new position in Ares Management in the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Ares Management by 80.4% during the second quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 451 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARES has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Management from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $169.64.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.1 %

ARES stock traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $182.66. 1,271,141 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,159,954. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $169.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.17. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $112.03 and a 1-year high of $184.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $57.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.19.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 company earned $0.83 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

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 of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 5,443 shares of the company's 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total value of $20,599,471.54. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 644,810 shares of company stock worth $111,116,340 in the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is owned by 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.