Clearbridge Investments LLC Purchases 306,181 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 31.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,290,741 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 306,181 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $228,500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ares Management by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,807,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,329,530,000 after buying an additional 907,757 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,277,879 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,465,433,000 after acquiring an additional 33,700 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 worth $596,318,000 after purchasing an additional 187,184 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,830,000 after purchasing an additional 18,773 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Management Trading Down 2.2 %

ARES opened at $145.07 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $172.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.66. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $125.23 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The company has a market cap of $45.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.46, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (NYSE:ARES) last issued its earnings results 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 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. Analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. The trade was a 77.49 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 shares were sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,523,000. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 329,113 shares of company stock worth $54,409,915 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ARES shares. StockNews.com lowered Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays reduced their target price on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.83.

Ares Management Profile

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.