Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC Purchases Shares of 1,281 Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,281 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ARES. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ares Management during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $209,884,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 722.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,738,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $231,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,856 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,284,773,000 after purchasing an additional 679,462 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Management by 26.4% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,344,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $229,056,000 after buying an additional 280,656 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARES has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.92.

Ares Management Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $188.15 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $176.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $159.59. Ares Management Co. has a 1 year low of $112.83 and a 1 year high of $190.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $58.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.71, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $292,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 253,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,312,450. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 20,096 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total value of $3,364,874.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 229,904 shares in the company, valued at $38,495,125.76. This represents a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 574,167 shares of company stock worth $99,996,647 over the last 90 days. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.