Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Acquires Shares of 585 Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 585 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $78,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,599,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,207,381,000 after acquiring an additional 206,996 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,872,559 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $460,525,000 after acquiring an additional 71,819 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 49.4% during the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,822,565 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $376,191,000 after acquiring an additional 933,664 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 38.5% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,171,188 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $289,376,000 after acquiring an additional 603,676 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,499,000. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $156.00 price target for the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $160.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Management currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.42.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.94, for a total transaction of $19,791,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.12, for a total transaction of $1,421,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 446,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,485,288.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.94, for a total transaction of $19,791,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 779,315 shares of company stock worth $109,487,356 over the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ares Management Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $147.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $96.00 and a 52-week high of $155.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $143.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $138.60. The stock has a market cap of $46.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.21.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.53% and a return on equity of 20.46%. The firm had revenue of $788.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $860.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 166.82%.

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.