Cibc World Markets Corp Sells 2,307 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Cibc World Markets Corp lowered its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 21.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,307 shares during the quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after acquiring an additional 679,462 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 1.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,301,709 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $982,058,000 after acquiring an additional 63,851 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,318,000 after acquiring an additional 187,184 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,830,000 after purchasing an additional 18,773 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Ares Management by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,201,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $566,826,000 after purchasing an additional 352,126 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ARES shares. Barclays decreased their target price on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. The trade was a 77.49 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,523,000. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 218,268 shares of company stock worth $37,431,786 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Price Performance

NYSE ARES opened at $147.95 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. 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 $125.23 and a 12-month high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. Analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $1.12 dividend. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.