Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Acquires 1,512 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 122,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,512 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $21,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Ares Management by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 416,585 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,529,000 after buying an additional 20,724 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Ares Management by 28.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 60,875 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,115,000 after purchasing an additional 13,439 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 4.8% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 23,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,153,000 after buying an additional 1,080 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 52.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 127,310 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,968,000 after acquiring an additional 43,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Ares Management by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 17,346 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.8 %

ARES opened at $197.39 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $179.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $162.17. The company has a market cap of $61.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $117.47 and a 12 month high of $197.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.43%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total transaction of $2,586,557.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 233,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,015,834.24. The trade was a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 20,048 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,356,837.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 229,952 shares in the company, valued at $38,503,162.88. This represents a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647 in the last ninety days. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.92.

Ares Management Company Profile

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.