Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Has $2.95 Million Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,649 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 136 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $2,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 67.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 53.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avalon Trust Co acquired a new position in Ares Management during the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ARES. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total value of $16,978,128.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at $214,438,000. The trade was a 7.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 329,113 shares of company stock worth $54,409,915. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $145.07 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $170.25. Ares Management Co. has a 12-month low of $125.23 and a 12-month high of $200.49. 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 $45.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.46, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 183.25%.

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.