Canton Hathaway LLC Acquires 90 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Canton Hathaway LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 12.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 790 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 90 shares during the quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $140,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,284,773,000 after buying an additional 679,462 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after buying an additional 678,549 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $229,056,000 after buying an additional 280,656 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,318,000 after purchasing an additional 187,184 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,950,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $459,580,000 after purchasing an additional 175,627 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 5,443 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was 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 owns 247,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,633,467.94. The trade was a 2.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 30,465 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.16, for a total value of $5,366,714.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,375,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,220,000. The trade was a 2.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 304,823 shares of company stock valued at $55,063,881 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Down 3.0 %

ARES stock opened at $168.81 on Tuesday. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $125.23 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $184.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.97. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $52.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARES. Barclays lowered their target price on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ares Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.17.

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.