Raymond James Trust N.A. Has $909,000 Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 38.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,832 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,616 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 24.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 192,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,674,000 after purchasing an additional 38,047 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 45.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 82,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,000,000 after purchasing an additional 26,012 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Ares Management in the 1st quarter valued at about $264,729,000. Retireful LLC acquired a new position in Ares Management in the 2nd quarter valued at about $696,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in Ares Management by 36.7% in the 2nd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 53,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,104,000 after buying an additional 14,300 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ARES shares. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.36.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $175.52 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $163.69 and a 200-day moving average of $149.29. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $107.69 and a 1-year high of $176.83. 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 company has a market cap of $54.95 billion, a PE ratio of 80.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.20.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.43%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In related news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 13,533 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.12, for a total value of $1,963,908.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 136,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,804,091.04. This represents a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 57,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.74, for a total transaction of $8,092,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 456,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,276,239.48. The trade was a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 613,326 shares of company stock valued at $96,606,744. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.