Ellsworth Advisors LLC Acquires 764 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 73.9% in the 4th quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 240 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 210.5% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 354 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 300.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 400 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 48,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.69, for a total value of $6,445,018.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 82,796 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.47, for a total transaction of $11,299,170.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,245,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $170,004,636.63. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 48,572 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.69, for a total transaction of $6,445,018.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 543,001 shares of company stock valued at $72,551,374 in the last three months. 47.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on ARES. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.45.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE ARES traded down $0.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $132.98. The company had a trading volume of 784,603 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,045,015. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Ares Management Co. has a one year low of $77.97 and a one year high of $139.48. The company has a market cap of $41.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s fifty day moving average is $130.14 and its 200-day moving average is $116.56.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.71 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 21.01%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 155.65%.

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.