Mather Group LLC. Increases Stock Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,305 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Ares Management by 67.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Ares Management during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Ares Management during the third quarter worth about $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Ares Management by 53.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its holdings in Ares Management by 1,572.7% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARES has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $224.00 target price on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 253,214 shares in the company, valued at $44,312,450. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $3,364,874.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 229,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,495,125.76. The trade was a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 555,838 shares of company stock worth $96,785,773 over the last three months. 41.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES stock opened at $189.71 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $182.78 and a 200-day moving average of $164.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $124.11 and a 12 month high of $200.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.