First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Purchases 90 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,490 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 90 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ARES. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 6.5% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,417 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,195,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 682,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $106,436,000 after acquiring an additional 36,476 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 22,750 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,545,000 after acquiring an additional 5,404 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 679,462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 134.1% in the fourth quarter. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 5,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $292,425.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 253,214 shares in the company, valued at $44,312,450. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total transaction of $20,599,471.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $223,916,778.46. This trade represents a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ares Management from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. One investment 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 MarketBeat.com, Ares Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.92.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $197.39 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $179.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $162.36. Ares Management Co. has a twelve month low of $117.47 and a twelve month high of $197.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.79 billion, a PE ratio of 90.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 171.43%.

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.