Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Sells 247 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lessened its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,488 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 247 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $996,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $205,499,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Ares Management by 216.3% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,253,644 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $149,083,000 after acquiring an additional 857,245 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ares Management by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,392,349 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,949,378,000 after acquiring an additional 631,334 shares during the period. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. grew its stake in Ares Management by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. now owns 934,360 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $111,114,000 after acquiring an additional 429,953 shares during the period. Finally, Cat Rock Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,935,000. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 175,152 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.56, for a total transaction of $23,393,301.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 175,152 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.56, for a total transaction of $23,393,301.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 33,905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.75, for a total value of $4,466,983.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 91,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,001,766.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,612,693 shares of company stock worth $218,186,465 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $133.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $138.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.27 billion, a PE ratio of 59.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.21. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $92.95 and a 52 week high of $150.12.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.93 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $707.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $814.88 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 21.22%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. Analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 166.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on ARES. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $131.00 to $127.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $153.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.29.

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.